Former island priest Louis Brouillard was sued again Monday in federal court, including by a man who says he was about seven years old when Brouillard sexually abused him — the youngest age alleged so far in the dozens of lawsuits filed against the priest.
The two latest lawsuits, filed by former altar boys, identify the accusers by the initials C.P. and S.A.F., bringing to 56 the number of clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far against the Archdiocese of Agana and 10 different priests. The two men also are suing the Boy Scouts of America.
C.P.'s complaint states he was only about seven when Brouillard started sexually abusing him as an altar boy, around 1970, and he continued to be abused when he joined the Boy Scouts of America, where Brouillard was a scoutmaster.
C.P., now 54, and S.A.F., now 52, both live on Guam and are represented by attorneys David Lujan and Gloria Lujan Rudolph. They demand a minimum $10 million each in damages.
"If you tell anyone, no one will believe you because I am a priest," Brouillard allegedly told S.A.F., his complaint states.
Court hearing
S.A.F. and C.P. filed their lawsuits hours after the U.S. District Court of Guam held a hearing for the first six clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in federal court. Those six lawsuits all accuse Brouillard. The status hearing was before Magistrate Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan Jr.
Attorney David Lujan has to prove that the federal court has jurisdiction over the cases before they can move forward. Lujan said he has three weeks to tell the court why there is jurisdiction in each of the cases.
If he is unable to prove jurisdiction, those cases will be moved to the Superior Court of Guam, he said.
The first six lawsuits, totaling $60 million in damages, name the Archdiocese of Agana, Brouillard, and the Boy Scouts of America as defendants.
Also attending Monday's hearing were Boy Scouts of America’s Guam-based counsel Patrick Civille, and Archdiocese of Agana’s Guam-based attorney John C. Terlaje, along with his California-based co-counsels, who appeared by video.
Civille said, as with any other cases, settlement is always a possibility.
“But in these, I don’t know. It’s early in the game right now, early in the process,” he said.
Brouillard, now at least 95 and living in Minnesota, has publicly admitted to sexually abusing 20 or more boys when he was on Guam.
