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Watson v. Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Phoenix2/13/2003
out it.
Because Watson continued to seem very upset and angry at the church over Bredemann's conduct, Watson's parents arranged for Watson to meet with Monsignor McMahon to get some insight into the Bredemann case and help them deal with their son. McMahon told them that the charges against Bredemann were as yet unproven, and they needed to wait and see how the situation turned out. McMahon said he did not believe Bredemann was capable of doing the things of which he was accused. McMahon also asked Watson if there was anything he would like to tell them. Watson's father recalled that Watson became "more and more closed" during that part of the discussion. Watson had been reluctant to go to the meeting, and his reaction afterwards was that it had been a "waste of time." Watson testified at trial that he did not remember the meeting.
In May 1990, when Watson was eighteen years old, his parents learned of a lawsuit that had been filed against the Diocese by friends whose son had been molested by Bredemann. Their concerns re-arose and they again questioned Watson about whether Bredemann had ever molested him. He again emphatically denied it. Watson testified at trial he did not remember the lawsuit or his parents questioning him.
While the lawsuit was pending, a paralegal from the law firm representing the Diocese interviewed approximately thirty of St. Theresa's parishioners who had been in contact with Bredemann. Watson was interviewed in June 1994; he was then twenty-two years old. Watson recalled that Bredemann had walked around nude at the Castle and that Watson thought he had stopped going to the Castle because the nudity had made him uncomfortable. He specifically recalled that Bredemann had made a comment about Watson's penis. He also denied that Bredemann had ever made advances toward him, but he alluded to other incidents which made him uncomfortable but that he could not remember specifically. He said he believed Bredemann was "doing something odd." Watson's parents recalled that he seemed "very, very closed . . . . very, very angry" when they broached the subject of Bredemann and the Castle after the phone call from the paralegal. Watson testified at trial that he did not recall this interview.
Watson's Alleged Memory Recovery
Watson's account of his alleged memory recovery varied somewhat in his trial testimony and pretrial interrogatory and deposition. He did not recover the Bredemann molestation memory as a result of therapy, however, as he had never sought psychological or psychiatric care until shortly before suit was filed. He testified at trial that he had recovered the memory of the molestation on October 4, 1995, the day he heard the verdict announced in the O. J. Simpson murder trial while at the Acme Bar and Grill in Tempe. A friend named Delmar Jenson worked there and Watson was watching the Simpson news coverage on television in the bar, and becoming increasingly upset and sickened:
went back to some of those days when my mom used to bring me to church. I didn't want to go. I started sweating, shaking and a deep feeling of guilt, remorse, all that had come over me. At that point in time I recalled what had happened on the trips up to "The Castle" about the molestation. . . . I walked back to the kitchen and told Del I needed to talk to him. . . . I just remember telling Del I'd been molested by a priest.
Watson said he could not remember any more of what he had said to Jenson on that occasion. He also testified that he was at that time using as much crystal methamphetamine as he could afford and that he spent the next year and a half in the worst spell of drug use he had ever been in, binging on
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