Aretakis sanctioned again in lawsuit against diocese

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Daily Gazette, Schenectday, NY

ALBANY — The controversial Albany attorney who has represented several alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse has been sanctioned a second time for bringing what a federal judge called "scurrilous allegations" against the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese in a lawsuit filed by a survivor of Hurricane Katrina.

To read the entire decision by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe, click here.

John Aretakis filed a lawsuit in April 2007 against the diocese, as well as Catholic Charities, the federal government and Federal Emergency Management Agency on behalf of Tina Zlotnick. The lawsuit alleged that the church broke its agreement to provide charitable housing to Zlotnick, who had lived in New Orleans and was forced to leave her apartment because of Hurricane Katrina.

Zlotnick returned to this area, assisted by Catholic Charities, and was allowed to live in the rectory at Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Watervliet. But Zlotnick refused to vacate the rectory, even after she was offered subsidized housing, so Catholic Charities evicted her.

Aretakis alleged in the lawsuit that the diocese broke its oral agreement with Zlotnick - that in exchange for using her story about Katrina in the press to generate donations she would receive charitable housing assistance from Catholic Charities. U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe dismissed the lawsuit after a Sept. 6, 2007, hearing and imposed $10,000 in penalties on Aretakis and ordered him to pay $14,310 in legal fees incurred by the diocese, which requested the sanctions.

On Tuesday, Sharpe ordered attorney Aretakis to pay another $10,000 in attorney's fees and costs to the diocese and $2,368.26 in attorney's fees and costs to the federal government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In his decision, Sharpe said Aretakis brought the suit out of his desire to embarass the diocese.

"The court concludes that Mr. Aretakis willfully included scurrilous allegations in the complaint that were completely and objectively irrelevant to any potential legal claim," Sharpe wrote. "He subjectively did so in bad faith because he was motivated by his own personal disenchantment with the church’s involvement in unrelated sexual abuse matters and because he intended to injure the church defendants, including their lawyer."

Sharpe also criticized Aretakis for moving for the judge remove himself from the case, a motion Sharpe denied.

"Mr. Aretakis has further compounded his sanctionable conduct by filing a baseless motion for recusal, again consistent with the same unprofessional pattern of activity demonstrated in past cases where his conduct has been questioned," Sharpe wrote.