US Catholic diocese agrees $320mn sex abuse payout

Rockville Center has reached a deal with around 600 plaintiffs who alleged abuse by priests when they were children 

A US Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York has announced a massive bankruptcy settlement under which it will pay out $323 million to hundreds of alleged survivors of sexual abuse by clergy members.   

The Rockville Center reached a preliminary settlement on Thursday with about 600 plaintiffs who claimed abuse by priests as children, according to a law firm representing the survivors.   

The diocese had previously offered the survivors a $200 million settlement, which they reportedly rejected.  

“After nearly four years we do have a global resolution,” Corrine Ball told US Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan. Glenn said the deal represented “enormous progress” and that it came “within a hair’s breadth” of failure.

Rockville Center will contribute $234.8 million to the settlement fund, while four insurers will contribute $85.3 million, a spokesperson for the diocese said.  

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Adam Slater, an attorney who represents some 100 survivors, told News 12 Long Island that it is the largest diocese settlement in the history of New York state.  

“The diocese’s goal has always been the equitable compensation of survivors of abuse while allowing the church to continue her essential mission,” Diocese spokesperson Eric Fasano told News 12.   

Rockville Center, which serves about 1.2 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, is the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the country to declare bankruptcy. It applied for insolvency in New York in October 2020, citing the cost of lawsuits filed by victims of child sexual abuse over decades-old crimes. The diocese said at the time potential payouts from the New York State Child Victims Act could leave it in financial ruin.  

Over 20 Catholic dioceses have reportedly filed for bankruptcy in recent years, after New York and other states enacted laws temporarily allowing childhood victims of sex abuse to file lawsuits regardless of how long ago the alleged crime occurred.