Church pursued abuse victim for costs

A NSW hearing will examine the response of the Catholic Church to John Ellis's claim of child abuse. Source: AAP

THE Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney under then-Archbishop George Pell showed no concern for the well-being of sex abuse victim John Ellis as church solicitors fought him in court, a hearing has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the experiences of abuse survivor John Ellis when he went through the church's internal process Towards Healing and then civil litigation.

Mr Ellis was sexually abused between 1974 and 1979 when he was aged between 13 and 17 by Aidan Duggan, who was a Catholic priest at Bass Hill in Sydney.

The case of Mr Ellis, who failed in his attempts to sue Cardinal Pell and the trustees of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, has entered legal history.

In 2005 it was found he could sue neither, and this has been interpreted by some as creating church immunity from prosecution over abuse.

Gail Furness SC, counsel advising the commission, on Monday said that for three years the archdiocese instructed its solicitors to seek financial information from Mr Ellis and "continued to adopt this strategy even after being advised by Mr Ellis' solicitor that his health had deteriorated and there was prospect of self harm if the costs award was pursued".

"The manner in which this litigation was conducted caused harm and suffering to Mr Ellis," Ms Furness said.

"Concern for Mr Ellis' well-being was not apparent at the time of litigation from either the archdiocese or Cardinal Pell's chosen solicitors."

Ms Furness said evidence from Cardinal Pell will say he was not aware Mr Ellis had nominated a settlement of $100,000 and he understood he was pursuing a claim for "many millions of dollars".

Ms Furness said in May 2002 Mr Ellis approached Towards Healing after memories came flooding back of the abuse he suffered as a teenager.

"The memories were painful and frightening and they came with strong physical memories of the abuse," Ms Furness told the commission.

After initial investigation by the church's Professional Standards Office, director John Daveron wrote to Mr Ellis on Christmas Eve 2002 simply regretting "that clear resolution of the matter was not possible".

This was based on the fact that Fr Duggan had dementia and the facts of the case could not be clarified.

The letter caused Mr Ellis considerable emotional distress, Ms Furness said.

Mr Ellis continued with Towards Healing. In that time his first marriage ended and he was asked to resign as a partner from his law firm because of criticism of his interpersonal skills.

The church made a "financial gesture" by offering him $30,000 and asked him to sign a deed of release.

Mr Ellis then sought his own legal advice.

The matter went to court. Ms Furness said several offers of settlement and mediation were rejected by Cardinal Pell and the church's Melbourne law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

The firm vigorously defended the case, questioning the veracity of Mr Ellis's claims and whether the archbishop and the trustees were properly named as defendants.

When Mr Ellis lost the court case the archbishop's solicitors informed Mr Ellis that their costs were likely to be up to $550,000.

They offered to forgo costs if Mr Ellis did not appeal to the High Court.

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