While I know little about the facts, I am not at all hesitant to weigh in on this subject.

      The church, a deep-pockets plaintiff, wants money from a probably-not-as-deep-pocketed insurance company defendant.

      Lawsuits cost money.  Maybe one or two of you will have experienced a minor auto accident with disputable facts, but you were certain one party, you, was sure to prevail should the matter go to court.

      But then, lo and behold, the other party, in the weaker liability position, filed suit!  You were served the lawsuit and promptly called your agent or adjuster, and you both laughed about the other driver wasting everyone's time with his/her frivolous lawsuit.  You tell whoever it is that the injury claims mentioned in the lawsuit are totally bogus!!  

      And then a month later, you get word that your insurance company settled the claim by paying a few thousand dollars, and the lawsuit has been dismissed...and your annual premiums are going up because you cost them money!  Wow, listen to you howl!!

      Why did they settle?  Because of simple math: defending a lawsuit costs X; paying the claimant to go away only cost Y, meaning the insurance company saved Z, and that's not taking into account that some wild-ass jury could have set OJ free again by finding for the plaintiff, despite all the facts provided to it.

      Simple math = simple extortion. 

Unfortunately after forty years in business I know way too much about this. I was shocked the first time when the law suit was so fraudulent its nose was growing but all that interested the insurance company was how low they could get the settlement. The settlement was already a done deal. Right and wrong don't even qualify as annoying details in the scheme of things.

It was very unsettling.

So yeah, the Grand Mormon Poobahs know they are getting a settlement whether they deserve it or not. ("Not" is the correct answer here--not that I am sympathetic to insurance companies.)

Our first bogus lawsuit sans insurance our lawyer told us we could settle for about $18,000 or take it to court, "most likely" win, and it would cost around $60,000 while the guy sueing us was paying nothing. Aren't contingency lawyers just the best! No back of a bus should be without one.

When I was more naive on the subject, I would read in the papers of people settling lawsuits against them I would think, "Ah-HA! They were guilty." Turns out guilty or innocent has nothing to do with any of it.