It has been shown by the documents unsealed in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis that priests accused of sexual abuse were moved to other parishes.

A court opened about 10,000 pages of depositions and other documents after a year of litigation by The Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Daily News.

It was indicated by the documents that at least 15 priests in western Tennessee were the subject of sexual abuse complaints.

A lawsuit by a man who says he was molested as a 14-year-old in 2000 by the Rev. Juan Carlos Duran was settled last year for $2 million. The diocese paid $1.55 million and the Dominican order $450,000.

Gary Smith, a lawyer for the plaintiff, told the Commercial Appeal, "Memphis was a microcosm of the overall scandal. Most of the victims don't come forward, but when they did, then Memphis handled it the way everyone else did: They swept it under the rug."

Several months were spent by the lawyers before the documents were released removing names of both victims and of priests subject to unsubstantiated abuse charges. (With Inputs from Agencies)