Current:Home > InvestWhat to know about the Los Angeles Catholic Church $880M settlement with sexual abuse victims -ProsperityStream Academy
What to know about the Los Angeles Catholic Church $880M settlement with sexual abuse victims
View
Date:2025-04-27 10:47:39
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.
The settlement with 1,353 people who allege that they were abused by local Catholic priests is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to experts. The accusers were able to sue after California approved a law that opened a three-year window in 2020 for cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has previously paid $740 million to victims. With the settlement announced Wednesday, the total payout will be more than $1.5 billion.
Attorneys still need to get approval for the settlement from all plaintiffs to finalize it, the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said.
The agreement brings to an end most sexual abuse litigation against the largest archdiocese in the United States, though a few lawsuits against the church are still pending, attorneys for the victims say.
Here are some things to know about the settlement:
It took a year and a half to reach an agreement
Negotiations began in 2022, lead plaintiff attorney Morgan Stewart said Thursday.
Attorneys wanted their clients to get the highest settlement possible while allowing the archdiocese to survive financially, Steward said. California is one of at least 15 states that have extended the window for people to sue institutions over long-ago abuse, leading to thousands of new cases that have forced several archdioceses to declare bankruptcy, including San Francisco and Oakland.
California’s law also allowed triple damages in cases where abuse resulted from a “cover-up” of previous assaults by an employee or volunteer.
“One of our goals was to avoid the bankruptcy process that has befallen so many other dioceses,” Stewart said.
The plaintiffs were abused 30, 40, or 50 years ago, Steward said.
“These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse,” Stewart told the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
The Los Angeles Catholic Church previously paid $740 million
The archdiocese has pledged to better protect its church members while paying hundreds of millions of dollars in various settlements.
Archbishop José H. Gomez apologized in a statement.
“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.”
Gomez said that the new settlement would be paid through “reserves, investments and loans, along with other archdiocesan assets and payments that will be made by religious orders and others named in the litigation.”
Hundreds of LA clergy members are accused of abusing minors
More than 300 priests who worked in the archdiocese in Los Angeles have been accused of sexually abusing minors over decades.
One of those priests was Michael Baker, who was convicted of child molestation in 2007 and paroled in 2011. In 2013, the archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle four cases alleging abuse by the now-defrocked priest.
Confidential files show that Baker met with then-Archbishop Roger Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two boys over a nearly seven-year period.
Mahony removed Baker from ministry and sent him for psychological treatment, but the priest returned to ministry and was allowed to be alone with boys. The priest wasn’t removed from ministry until 2000 after serving in nine parishes.
Authorities believe that Baker molested more than 40 children during his years as a priest, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Church officials say they’ve made changes
The church now enforces strict background and reporting requirements on priests and has extensive training programs for staff and volunteers to protect young people, said Gomez, who succeeded Mahony after he retired in 2011 and went on to become a Cardinal.
“Today, as a result of these reforms, new cases of sexual misconduct by priests and clergy involving minors are rare in the Archdiocese,” Gomez told the Los Angeles Times. “No one who has been found to have harmed a minor is serving in ministry at this time. And I promise: We will remain vigilant.”
As part of the new settlement, the archdiocese will disclose more of the files it kept that documented abuse by priests.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Credit card APRs are surging ever higher. Here's how to get a lower rate.
- This Is What It’s Really Like to Do Jennifer Aniston's Hard AF Workout
- Rangers rookie sensation Evan Carter's whirlwind month rolls into ALDS: 'Incredibly cool'
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Arkansas jail inmates settle lawsuit with doctor who prescribed them ivermectin for COVID-19
- How kids are making sense of climate change and extreme weather
- Chiefs star Travis Kelce on Aaron Rodgers' 'Mr. Pfizer' jab: I'm 'comfortable' with it
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- Book excerpt: Prequel by Rachel Maddow
Ranking
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- A curious bear cub got his head stuck in a plastic jug. It took two months to free Juggles.
- An Egyptian appeals court upholds a 6-month sentence against a fierce government critic
- Inter Miami vs. FC Cincinnati score, highlights: Cincinnati ruins Lionel Messi’s return
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Lionel Messi may play Saturday, Inter Miami hints in social media post
- Deaf truck driver awarded $36M by a jury for discrimination
- ‘We are at war': 5 things to know about the Hamas militant group’s unprecedented attack on Israel
Recommendation
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
Deaths rise to 47 after an icy flood swept through India’s Himalayan northeast
Lightning strike survivor uses his second chance at life to give others a second chance, too
Muslims in Kenya protest at Supreme Court over its endorsement of LGBTQ right to associate
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
Suspect at large after woman found dead on trail in 'suspicious' death: Police
Judge Lina Hidalgo felt trapped before receiving depression treatment, now wishes she'd done it sooner
Proof Travis Kelce Is Handling Attention Around Taylor Swift Romance All Too Well
Like
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Woman opens fire in Connecticut police department lobby, prompting exchange of gunfire with officer between bullet-proof glass
- China’s flagging economy gets a temporary boost as holiday travel returns to pre-pandemic levels