Bleed 'em to death in court.

That's the deep-pockets approach to Catholic social justice of billionaire Tom Monaghan. AveWatch has been following Monaghan's attempt to block Katherine Ernsting's wrongful termination suit from going to trial [1,2,3] . Ernsting was fired from Ave Maria shortly after she reported illegal distribution of student federal aid on the start-up Florida campus. Her reports to federal investigators lead, in part, to a $259,000 payback levied by the Department of Education against Monaghan.

Ernsting fulfilled her duty as Financial Aid Officer and saved many thousands of dollars in illegal taxpayer aid from propping billionaire Monaghan's Florida venture. Unlike Tom Monaghan, Ernsting does not have a donor base that will fund stall tactics in court. Unlike Monaghan, she does not have booming for-profit businesses, personal investments, and a bank tied to south Florida's real estate development. Many of Ernsting's Ave Maria colleagues are limited in their ability to help after their signing of a non-disparagement agreement to secure severance payment from Ave.

With one hand, Tom Monaghan equates donations to himself as donations to "the Church" that are "for the good of your soul". With the other hand, Monaghan denies a fellow Catholic and dedicated employee the justice of having her case heard before a judge. When asked about examining the merits of Ernsting's case in court, Monaghan's lawyer admitted "We hope we don't get to that point" (Naples News, March 24, 2007). Will Catholics be content to stand for this duplicity?

Today, Ernsting's friends announce the creation of a legal expense fund to help cover the costs incurred to get the case before a judge (which, after two years and thousands in court costs, still has not happened).

This is an opportunity to have Tom Monaghan and his administrators explain their governance and employee treatment tactics under oath. Light disinfects.

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