Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― A story about victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in southern California and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles receiving a $600 million settlement was released early and filled with inaccuracies, according to the victims' lead attorney.

Attorney Ray Boucher said he has been in talks over the 500 or so pending claims of sexual and other physical abuse inflicted upon parishioners by members of the local Catholic clergy over past decades.

"Those numbers are off, both in terms of the number of persons affected, and the amount," said Boucher in a mid afternoon telephone interview.

"There are only two people who are in the room on the negotiations, and I am one of them," he said. "I can state categorically that those numbers are off, way off, and that the total number of victims covered by any settlement has not been settled with any finality."

Reports published on Saturday indicated that $600 million might be set aside by the Archdiocese to settle more than 500 individual cases. However, according to Boucher, both numbers are unreliable because of the nature of the defendants.

Boucher said many of the defendant church orders are technically independent from the archdiocese itself, "and some of them are unwilling to pay one penny for any settlement.

"They are all one minute in on the deal, and the next minute out," Boucher said. "That's part of the whole problem.

"If you had asked me Thursday I thought we had it done, but on Friday I was pulling my hair out," he said. "These are tough issues and we are still at the table, working hard, to come up with a solution before Monday."

Boucher said one victim's attorney, who did not have recent information, allegedly leaked old information to a reporter.

However, despite the ambiguity, a settlement appears to be imminent.

"The Archdiocese will be in court Monday at 9:30 a.m.," said spokesman Tod Tamberg. "That is all we can say until then."

Tamberg would also specifically not discuss a specific settlement figure. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge must approve and oversee any settlement.

Barbara Blaine, the national leader of a parishioner group, confirmed that a settlement was made. She would not distinguish any specifics. Blaine did, however, praisee the "brave victims, compassionate lawmakers and victims' attorneys, who took hard, uncertain cases and overcame seemingly endless hardball tactics by bishops." to win the case.

Blaine singled out L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony for settling the case to avoid disclosing "under oath, in open court, how much the church's corporate officials knew about and how little they did about pedophile priests, nuns, brothers and seminarians."

Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, an alleged victim of abuse, said she could not talk about any numbers. "But no amount of money could ever bring back the childhoods that were lost as a result of this abuse."

Across the country, tens of thousands of priests have been accused of sexually attacking children. Cardinal Mahony was singled out by victims because of his alleged role in covering up child molestations and transferring accused priests when he was bishop for the Catholic Church in Fresno.

As they tried to pay victims, several dioceses and archdioceses have gone bankrupt. In Orange County, the Diocese settled with a $100 million payoff to 90 victims.

In December, the L.A. Times estimated that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles controls 1,600 pieces of land worth over $4 billion.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)