The same judge also cleared the way for four alleged victims to seek punitive damages from the archdiocese -- something that could open the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling is expanded to other cases.
Legal specialists said the archdiocese's financial exposure and the stress of preparing for so many trials at once could help bring about a settlement before jury selection.
Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese will sell its high-rise administrative building and is considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds.
"I'm sure they're going to settle these cases. You just can't go to trial on that many cases," said Pamela Hayes, an attorney who served on the National Lay Review Board, a panel formed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to study the priest abuse scandal.
Michael Hennigan, a lawyer for the archdiocese, said it is eager to settle as soon as possible but the complexity of the situation could make that difficult.
"We work on settlements every day and I've been hoping for a settlement for five years," he said. "It would be nice if we could get it done before these trials, but I'm not sure we can."
Catholics say they are relieved that the clergy abuse scandal in Los Angeles appears to be easing. But some worry that the impact on the archdiocese, which has about 4.3 million Catholics, could be severe.
Raymond Flynn, former Boston mayor and the former US ambassador to the Vatican, said a financially strong diocese is important in Los Angeles, to help retain its large, Spanish-speaking population.
The church is fighting to keep Hispanics in the Catholic church as an increasing number gravitate toward evangelical faiths.
"The future of the Catholic church in America is the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. [The scandal] will have an extraordinarily negative impact," Flynn said. "There will be a lot of pain, a lot of cutbacks in services."
