Friday, October 18, 2024 - The Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the US has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy s3xual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single child s3x abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.
The announcement of the agreement in principle was made on
Wednesday, October 16.
After the announcement, Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a
statement, “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my
heart.”
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure
of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added.
“I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims
that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past
abuses.”
Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered
horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement
after months of negotiations with the archdiocese, the Los
Angeles Times reported.
The agreement caps a quarter-century of litigation against
the most populous archdiocese in the United States.
Attorneys in the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said in a
joint statement, “While there is no amount of money that can replace what was
taken from these 1,353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for
decades, there is justice in accountability.”
Under the settlement, the plaintiffs will engage in a
process that will not involve the archdiocese to allocate the settlement amount
among the participants.
The archdiocese has previously paid $740 million to victims
in various settlements and had pledged to better protect its church members, so
this settlement would put the total payout at more than $1.5 billion, the Times
said.
Attorney Morgan Stewart, who led the negotiations, said in a
statement that the settlement is the largest single child sex abuse settlement
with a Catholic archdiocese.
These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath
of the abuse. Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of
those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get
this resolved,” Stewart told the Times.
The settlement will be funded by archdiocese investments,
accumulated reserves, bank financing, and other assets.
According to the archdiocese, certain religious orders and
others named in the litigation will also cover some of the cost of the
settlement, the Times said.
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