Thirty men who claimed they were sexually abused while attending two Catholic schools in the Seattle, Washington area will share $12 million.
The Archdiocese of Seattle has agreed to pay $12.125 million to the men who were sexually abused decades ago while students at Seattle’s O’Dea High School and nearby Kent’s Briscoe Memorial School.
The men claimed in their lawsuits that the archdiocese failed to protect them from “known abusers,” including two teachers who were members of the Roman Catholic “Christian Brothers” order. That order filed for bankruptcy in April 2011.
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain offered the following apology:
“I deeply regret the pain suffered by these victims…Our hope is that this settlement will bring them (the victims) closure and allow them to continue the process of healing.”
Mike Pfau, the attorney for the plaintiffs (who are now between 42 and 68) observed that the settlement will put an “end to the ugly chapter for the archdiocese. This marks the end of ten years of really horrible cases involving these two schools.”
Read the entire article in the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023920154_archdiocesesettlementxml.html
CNN’s report: http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/us/seattle-archdiocese-sex-abuse-settlement/