California
Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, it was announced Wednesday.
After the announcement of the agreement in principle, Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a statement, “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart.”
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added. “I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”
Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the archdiocese, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The agreement caps a quarter-century of litigation against the most populous archdiocese in the United States.
Attorneys in the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said in a joint statement, “While there is no amount of money that can replace what was taken from these 1,353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for decades, there is justice in accountability.”
Under the settlement, the plaintiffs will engage in a process— that will not involve the archdiocese — to allocate the settlement amount among the participants.
The archdiocese has previously paid $740 million to victims in various settlements and had pledged to better protect its church members, so this settlement would put the total payout at more than $1.5 billion, the Times said.
Attorney Morgan Stewart, who led the negotiations, said in a statement that the settlement is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.
“These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse. Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get this resolved,” Stewart told the Times.
The settlement will be funded by archdiocese investments, accumulated reserves, bank financing, and other assets. According to the archdiocese, certain religious orders and others named in the litigation will also cover some of the cost of the settlement, the Times said.
Mississippi
Judge dismisses lawsuit over old abortion rights ruling from 1998
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that challenged a potential conflict between a 2022 state law that bans most abortions and a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that said abortion is guaranteed in the Mississippi Constitution because of the right of privacy.
Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin wrote that the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists lacks legal standing for the lawsuit it filed against the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure in November 2022.
The association did not show that the licensing board has threatened disciplinary action against any of the roughly 35 association members for refusing to refer patients for abortion services elsewhere, Martin wrote. She also wrote that the association’s “allegation of speculative harm is unfit for review.”
“Mississippi law grants the Board the power to suspend, revoke, or restrict the license of any physician who performs or aids certain abortions,” Martin wrote. “But the Board has no express authority to discipline a physician who declines to provide abortion services on conscience grounds.”
Aaron Rice, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he will try to revive the case.
“We will appeal the ruling and look forward to presenting this important constitutional question to the Mississippi Supreme Court,” Rice said Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court used a Mississippi case in June 2022 to overturn abortion rights nationwide. The only abortion clinic in Mississippi closed soon after the ruling, when a new state law took effect that allows abortions only to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape that are reported to law enforcement.
Members of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists sued the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure months later, seeking to overturn the 1998 ruling from the state’s high court.
Leaders of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which provides certification to doctors in the field, have said in the past that they do not expect doctors to violate their moral beliefs. But the anti-abortion doctors in this case say those assurances haven’t been firm enough.
The office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch argued the case that the U.S. Supreme Court used to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Fitch, a Republican, later wrote that after Roe was reversed, the 1998 Mississippi Supreme Court decision was no longer valid because it had relied on Roe.
Nevada
Man arrested with guns outside Trump California rally sues sheriff
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada man who was arrested over the weekend with guns at a security checkpoint outside a Donald Trump rally in the southern California desert has filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of falsely characterizing his arrest as a thwarted assassination attempt for his own personal gain.
The man, identified as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, had been driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate when he was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday at a news conference.
Miller had a shotgun, loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle, Bianco said. Miller was released the same day on $5,000 bail.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada says Bianco lied about the fake passports, and that he “created a narrative so as to be viewed as a ‘heroic’ Sheriff who saved Presidential candidate Trump.” It names as defendants the sheriff, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and a sheriff’s deputy.
A call to the sheriff’s executive office for comment Wednesday was deferred to the department’s communications office, which did not respond to an email. The Associated Press also emailed Miller’s lawyer, Sigal Chattah, for comment.
Security is very tight at Trump rallies following two recent assassination attempts. Last month, a man was indicted on an attempted assassination charge after authorities said he staked out the former president for 12 hours and wrote of his desire to kill him. The Florida arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Bianco said that Miller also claimed to be a journalist, but that it was unclear if he had the proper credentials. Deputies noticed the interior of the vehicle was “in disarray” and a search uncovered the weapons and ammo, along with multiple passports and driver licenses with different names, Bianco said.
Miller’s lawsuit accuses the sheriff’s department of illegally searching the SUV. It also says that he willingly disclosed to officers at the checkpoint that he had weapons but intended to leave them in the vehicle.
Miller is scheduled to appear in court in January in the weapons case. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, according to online records.
Virginia
2 election officials in a rural city sue state over ballot-counting machines
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two Republican election officials said in a recent lawsuit that they will not certify the results of the Nov. 5 election in a rural Virginia city unless the ballots are hand-counted, perpetuating a false notion that machines tallying the votes can be manipulated.
The suit against the Virginia Department of Elections and Elections Board was filed earlier this month in Waynesboro, Virginia, by the city’s election board chair Curtis Lilly and vice chair Scott Mares. In the complaint, Lilly and Mares argued that election officials do not have access to the votes tallied by machines, which they allege prevents them from verifying “the results of the voting machine’s secret canvass.”
The counting system, Lilly and Mares argued, violates a provision of the state Constitution that stipulates such machines must be in public view.
“As Electoral Board members are prohibited from hand-counting ballots, we cannot ensure that the vote tally produced by the voting machines matches the votes memorialized on the case paper ballots,” Mares said in an affidavit sent to The Associated Press.
The electoral board members filed the lawsuit in Waynesboro District Court. The Office of the Attorney General, which is defending the Department of Elections and State Board of Elections, declined to comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit comes as election conspiracy theorists across the U.S. are moving to support hand-counted ballots, nearly four years after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed the past election was stolen from him. But research shows that hand-counting is more prone to error, costlier and likely to delay results.
In Virginia, voters cast paper ballots that are subsequently counted by machine. In August, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin filed an executive order that mandated the machines are tested before every election and never connected to the internet. In that same order, Youngkin required officials to make daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters, a move that the U.S. Justice Department alleged in a recent suit violated federal law.
“The Virginia model for Election Security works,” Youngkin said in a statement in August. “This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue.”
Ohio
Relatives of Black man killed by police settle suit
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A family is settling a wrongful death lawsuit against Ohio police who fired 94 bullets at a Black man during a chase two years ago.
Jayland Walker’s family and the city of Akron reached an agreement but have not disclosed details, according to a joint court filing Tuesday. The family’s lawyers said they would hold a news conference “at the appropriate time” to discuss the agreement, and city officials declined to comment while the settlement is pending a judge’s approval.
The lawsuit filed in June 2023 sought at least $45 million in damages from the officers involved in the shooting, the city and officials. The family said the officers used excessive force in the shooting and participated in a “culture of violence and racism” within Akron’s police department.
The suit was filed months after a grand jury declined to indict the officers in the death. Their names have not been released.
Walker, 25, was killed during a traffic stop on June 27, 2022, after he fired a single bullet from his vehicle, then ran from the officers, according to a state investigation. He left the gun in his still-moving car.
The killing of another Black man during a traffic stop heightened tensions with police and roiled the city.
The officers believed Walker was armed and a “deadly threat” when they fired the nearly 100 bullets at him in less than 7 seconds because he refused to put up his hands, the state investigation said.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, it was announced Wednesday.
After the announcement of the agreement in principle, Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a statement, “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart.”
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added. “I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”
Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the archdiocese, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The agreement caps a quarter-century of litigation against the most populous archdiocese in the United States.
Attorneys in the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said in a joint statement, “While there is no amount of money that can replace what was taken from these 1,353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for decades, there is justice in accountability.”
Under the settlement, the plaintiffs will engage in a process— that will not involve the archdiocese — to allocate the settlement amount among the participants.
The archdiocese has previously paid $740 million to victims in various settlements and had pledged to better protect its church members, so this settlement would put the total payout at more than $1.5 billion, the Times said.
Attorney Morgan Stewart, who led the negotiations, said in a statement that the settlement is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.
“These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse. Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get this resolved,” Stewart told the Times.
The settlement will be funded by archdiocese investments, accumulated reserves, bank financing, and other assets. According to the archdiocese, certain religious orders and others named in the litigation will also cover some of the cost of the settlement, the Times said.
Mississippi
Judge dismisses lawsuit over old abortion rights ruling from 1998
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that challenged a potential conflict between a 2022 state law that bans most abortions and a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that said abortion is guaranteed in the Mississippi Constitution because of the right of privacy.
Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin wrote that the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists lacks legal standing for the lawsuit it filed against the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure in November 2022.
The association did not show that the licensing board has threatened disciplinary action against any of the roughly 35 association members for refusing to refer patients for abortion services elsewhere, Martin wrote. She also wrote that the association’s “allegation of speculative harm is unfit for review.”
“Mississippi law grants the Board the power to suspend, revoke, or restrict the license of any physician who performs or aids certain abortions,” Martin wrote. “But the Board has no express authority to discipline a physician who declines to provide abortion services on conscience grounds.”
Aaron Rice, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he will try to revive the case.
“We will appeal the ruling and look forward to presenting this important constitutional question to the Mississippi Supreme Court,” Rice said Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court used a Mississippi case in June 2022 to overturn abortion rights nationwide. The only abortion clinic in Mississippi closed soon after the ruling, when a new state law took effect that allows abortions only to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape that are reported to law enforcement.
Members of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists sued the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure months later, seeking to overturn the 1998 ruling from the state’s high court.
Leaders of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which provides certification to doctors in the field, have said in the past that they do not expect doctors to violate their moral beliefs. But the anti-abortion doctors in this case say those assurances haven’t been firm enough.
The office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch argued the case that the U.S. Supreme Court used to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Fitch, a Republican, later wrote that after Roe was reversed, the 1998 Mississippi Supreme Court decision was no longer valid because it had relied on Roe.
Nevada
Man arrested with guns outside Trump California rally sues sheriff
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada man who was arrested over the weekend with guns at a security checkpoint outside a Donald Trump rally in the southern California desert has filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of falsely characterizing his arrest as a thwarted assassination attempt for his own personal gain.
The man, identified as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, had been driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate when he was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday at a news conference.
Miller had a shotgun, loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle, Bianco said. Miller was released the same day on $5,000 bail.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada says Bianco lied about the fake passports, and that he “created a narrative so as to be viewed as a ‘heroic’ Sheriff who saved Presidential candidate Trump.” It names as defendants the sheriff, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and a sheriff’s deputy.
A call to the sheriff’s executive office for comment Wednesday was deferred to the department’s communications office, which did not respond to an email. The Associated Press also emailed Miller’s lawyer, Sigal Chattah, for comment.
Security is very tight at Trump rallies following two recent assassination attempts. Last month, a man was indicted on an attempted assassination charge after authorities said he staked out the former president for 12 hours and wrote of his desire to kill him. The Florida arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Bianco said that Miller also claimed to be a journalist, but that it was unclear if he had the proper credentials. Deputies noticed the interior of the vehicle was “in disarray” and a search uncovered the weapons and ammo, along with multiple passports and driver licenses with different names, Bianco said.
Miller’s lawsuit accuses the sheriff’s department of illegally searching the SUV. It also says that he willingly disclosed to officers at the checkpoint that he had weapons but intended to leave them in the vehicle.
Miller is scheduled to appear in court in January in the weapons case. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, according to online records.
Virginia
2 election officials in a rural city sue state over ballot-counting machines
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two Republican election officials said in a recent lawsuit that they will not certify the results of the Nov. 5 election in a rural Virginia city unless the ballots are hand-counted, perpetuating a false notion that machines tallying the votes can be manipulated.
The suit against the Virginia Department of Elections and Elections Board was filed earlier this month in Waynesboro, Virginia, by the city’s election board chair Curtis Lilly and vice chair Scott Mares. In the complaint, Lilly and Mares argued that election officials do not have access to the votes tallied by machines, which they allege prevents them from verifying “the results of the voting machine’s secret canvass.”
The counting system, Lilly and Mares argued, violates a provision of the state Constitution that stipulates such machines must be in public view.
“As Electoral Board members are prohibited from hand-counting ballots, we cannot ensure that the vote tally produced by the voting machines matches the votes memorialized on the case paper ballots,” Mares said in an affidavit sent to The Associated Press.
The electoral board members filed the lawsuit in Waynesboro District Court. The Office of the Attorney General, which is defending the Department of Elections and State Board of Elections, declined to comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit comes as election conspiracy theorists across the U.S. are moving to support hand-counted ballots, nearly four years after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed the past election was stolen from him. But research shows that hand-counting is more prone to error, costlier and likely to delay results.
In Virginia, voters cast paper ballots that are subsequently counted by machine. In August, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin filed an executive order that mandated the machines are tested before every election and never connected to the internet. In that same order, Youngkin required officials to make daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters, a move that the U.S. Justice Department alleged in a recent suit violated federal law.
“The Virginia model for Election Security works,” Youngkin said in a statement in August. “This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue.”
Ohio
Relatives of Black man killed by police settle suit
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A family is settling a wrongful death lawsuit against Ohio police who fired 94 bullets at a Black man during a chase two years ago.
Jayland Walker’s family and the city of Akron reached an agreement but have not disclosed details, according to a joint court filing Tuesday. The family’s lawyers said they would hold a news conference “at the appropriate time” to discuss the agreement, and city officials declined to comment while the settlement is pending a judge’s approval.
The lawsuit filed in June 2023 sought at least $45 million in damages from the officers involved in the shooting, the city and officials. The family said the officers used excessive force in the shooting and participated in a “culture of violence and racism” within Akron’s police department.
The suit was filed months after a grand jury declined to indict the officers in the death. Their names have not been released.
Walker, 25, was killed during a traffic stop on June 27, 2022, after he fired a single bullet from his vehicle, then ran from the officers, according to a state investigation. He left the gun in his still-moving car.
The killing of another Black man during a traffic stop heightened tensions with police and roiled the city.
The officers believed Walker was armed and a “deadly threat” when they fired the nearly 100 bullets at him in less than 7 seconds because he refused to put up his hands, the state investigation said.
