SAN DIEGO – The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a $198.125 million settlement with 144 sexual abuse victims Friday morning. Marathon settlement talks at the downtown Federal Courthouse ended with the announcement that the church would settle the case for $1.37 million per victim. The diocese filed for bankruptcy Feb. 27 amid allegations by roughly 150 men and women who said they were sexually abused by priests and church workers as minors. It was the largest diocese in the country to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of such allegations. The victims were seeking financial compensation and disclosures from church hierarchy about what they knew about the abuse and when they knew it. After four years of failed settlement talks, San Diego Bishop Robert Brom sought bankruptcy protection, saying it was ‘the best way available for us to compensate all the victims as fairly and equitably as our resources will allow.’ The diocese previously offered to settle the case for $95 million settlement offer, about $600,000 per victim. The victims’ attorneys were seeking twice that amount. Settlements in other dioceses across the country have also included agreements that church leaders would release […]
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
San Diego Catholic Diocese Makes Abuse Settlement of Almost $200 Million
Author:
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
Publication Date: 11:43 a.m. September 7, 2007
Link: San Diego Catholic Diocese Makes Abuse Settlement of Almost $200 Million
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
Publication Date: 11:43 a.m. September 7, 2007
Link: San Diego Catholic Diocese Makes Abuse Settlement of Almost $200 Million
Stephan: If the Roman Catholic Church, to which 24.9 per cent of America's churched population professes alliegance, were a lay organization it would probably be persecuted under the Federal RICCO statute which provides remedies for victims of conspiratorial intention in an organization. These stories blossom like toxic mushrooms with disheartening frequency.
PREVIOUS PAYOUTS
Sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests has cost the U.S. church at least $2.1 billion since 1950. Here are some of the largest known payouts to victims since the crisis erupted in 2002 in the Archdiocese of Boston:
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 2007, agrees to pay $660 million to about 500 people.
Diocese of Orange, Calif., 2004, $100 million for 90 abuse claims.
Diocese of Covington, Ky., 2006, up to $84 million for more than 350 people.
Archdiocese of Boston, 2003, $84 million for 552 claims.
Diocese of Oakland, Calif., 2005, $56 million to 56 people.
Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., 2007, agrees to pay about $52 million to 175 victims to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The diocese sets aside another $20 million for any future claims.
Diocese of Spokane, Wash., 2007, agrees to pay $48 million for about 150 claims to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Diocese of Sacramento, Calif., 2005, pays $35 million to 33 people.
Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., 2003, $25.7 million to 243 victims.
Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., 2005, agrees to fund a settlement trust worth about $22 million for more than 50 victims to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
