New suits filed against Seattle Archdiocese and Christian Brothers

Six men who had settled sex-abuse lawsuits against the Seattle Archdiocese and Christian Brothers order have filed new suits saying church leaders withheld critical evidence until after their cases had settled — a charge representatives from both the order and the archdiocese say is false.

The six men all say they were abused decades ago by Edward Courtney, a Christian Brother, while they were students at either St. Alphonsus School or O'Dea High School, both in Seattle.

In the new lawsuits, filed this month in King County Superior Court, the plaintiffs say they had settled for less than their cases were worth.

They had settled, they said, because the order and the archdiocese had claimed — either intentionally or negligently — that they had little or no evidence that Courtney was a danger. Months after their cases settled, the new lawsuits claim, the plaintiffs learned church leaders had such evidence.

Representatives for the Seattle Archdiocese said there was no factual or legal basis for the new claims. They said they found information about Courtney among other school files only after the initial settlements, and that the information would have favored the archdiocese.

Another lawsuit, filed in December, made similar claims against the Christian Brothers order.

In that case, a man who said he had been abused at the now-closed Briscoe Memorial School in Kent said that several months after he settled his suit, the Christian Brothers produced evidence that the accused had abused at Briscoe years ago.

The order said it found the new lawsuits baseless.