The St. Clare’s pensioners trial wrapped up in Schenectady County Court today. The trial’s conclusion comes after an agreement over compensation.
Schenectady County Court Judge Vincent Versaci discharged the six-person jury Thursday morning. The jury had convened for a hearing to determine how much in punitive damages should be added to the $54.2 million already awarded to the St. Clare’s pensioners during the first phase of the trial, which concluded Friday.
During Thursday’s hearing, both sides in the case -- which has to do with the more than 1,100 pensioners who lost some or all of their retirement benefits after the St. Clare’s hospital pension fund collapsed in 2019 – reached an agreement saying the plaintiffs would not seek compensation beyond the $54.2 million.
Victoria Williamson is with the AARP Foundation and is one of the attorneys who represented the plaintiffs.
She said the agreement means that the plaintiffs can move forward with actually getting the money awarded to the pensioners.
“And so right now we are just focused on getting the $54.2 million plus pre-judgement interest to our clients,” Williamson said.
Defendants in the case include the late former Bishop Howard Hubbard, Bishop Emeritus Edward Scharfenberger, former diocesan employee Joseph Pofit, Father David LeFort, The St. Clare’s Corporation, former hospital CEO Robert Perry and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
Earlier this week, Scharfenberger and Pofit filed for bankruptcy – moves that delayed the punitive damages hearing. But on Thursday, the plaintiffs agreed to not pursue additional compensation – at least temporarily – to allow the case to move forward.
Williamson said that although there was an award of punitive damages, an actual amount has not been determined.
“The jury verdict awarded punitive damages to the plaintiffs, meaning they determined that punitive damages were warranted, we agreed due to bankruptcy filings and all sorts of things that rather than go through a proceeding to make a determination as to what the amount of those would be, that we would simply focus on getting the moneys to our clients,” Williamson said.
Williamson says the next step is moving forward in bankruptcy court and trying to secure funds for the pensioners. The Albany Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.
In a statement Thursday, AARP Foundation Vice President of Litigation Louis Lopez said the decision to forgo the punitive-damages phase means “Judge Versaci can immediately enter a final order confirming the jury’s finding of liability and the full compensatory‑damages award of $54.2 million.”
Standing outside of the courtroom after last week’s verdict, Mary Hartshorne – a former St. Clare’s Hospital employee – said the $54.2 million wasn’t enough.
“We have to be better to each other, every single one of us. We have to be just that little bit more nicer to people. The world needs it, we don’t need evil we are seeing a lot of it through this and we don’t want to see that anymore,” Hartshorne said.
On Thursday, as tears rolled down her cheeks after the agreement was reached, Hartshorne said she can’t “understand any of it.”
“Emotionally or legally, but we are where we are, we’ve made history actually and that’s thanks to our amazing attorneys and their staff and all my friends,” Hartshorne said.
She said the last-minute bankruptcy filings were “hurtful.”
“That was the church, that was our tenant, that was what we lived through, we were slammed, we never expected any of that, so it was unexpected,” Hartshorne said.
While the AARP says the stipulation agreement is meant to fast track the plaintiffs’ reception of the $54 million, Albany Law Professor David Pratt, whose clients include some of the pensioners, says there is still a long road ahead.
“The question is who has any assets here. I mean St. Clare’s corporation doesn’t have any assets; the diocese is already in bankruptcy,” Pratt said.
Pratt questions whether any of the defendants have substantiable assets to pay the plaintiffs, especially given the diocese’s bankruptcy filing.
“And also in the bankruptcy, they’re going to be competing with all of the other creditors and there is already a royal battle going on in the diocese bankruptcy between my clients on the one hand and all the child victims on the other hand with people jockeying for position,” Pratt said.
The stipulation agreement and closure of the St. Clare’s pensioners trial comes as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany faces hundreds of lawsuits by individuals who allege sexual abuse at the hands of its clergy.
