Settlement tops $79 million in diocese suit

By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Louisville - About 240 people have now been awarded more
than $79 million in a class-action settlement between
victims of sexual abuse at the hands of church officials
and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Northern
Kentucky.

Two special masters in the case reviewed claims from 400
people. A statement Monday from plaintiffs' attorney Stan
Chesley said the special masters approved 243 and rejected
157 claims, with 100 of those rejections being appealed to
a judge.

The settlement, reached in February 2006, is between the
Covington Diocese and more than 350 people who said they
were abused by priests and diocese employees since the
1950s in 57 counties across a large swath of Kentucky.

Under the terms of the class-action settlement, victims
were to receive $5,000 to $1 million based on the severity
and duration of the abuse they suffered. Some money has
also been set aside to pay for counseling for abuse
victims.

The special masters, William Burleigh, chairman of the
board of the E.W. Scripps Co., and Thomas D. Lambros of
Ashtabula, Ohio, former chief judge in the Northern
District of Ohio, awarded $62,881,500 to most members of
the class-action case.

They awarded $16,200,000 in Extraordinary Injury Funds to
78 people considered to have faced extreme abuse, the
statements said. Those awards have not been paid yet.

The settlement required 5 percent of the total settlement
be set aside for a counseling fund, which has paid for and
continues to pay for mental health treatment of victims,
Chesley said. Another 5 percent was set aside to pay claims
for victims born after Oct. 21, 1980.

Chesley said there are sufficient funds to pay the awards
and counseling.

Covington Bishop Roger Foys met with abuse victims once the
case was settled. As of July, Foys had met with 125
victims, said Tim Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Covington
Diocese.

Foys was unavailable for comment on Monday. Fitzgerald said
Foys has continued to meet with victims at their request.

"I presume he's continuing to do that," Fitzgerald said.

The special masters will issue a final report on the
settlement after the last checks have been mailed, Chesley
said.

Covington is far smaller than Boston, the nation's fourth-
largest diocese with about 2.1 million parishioners. The
Boston Archdiocese settled two cases in 2002 and 2003 for a
total of $95 million, one of the largest amounts paid by a
diocese to settle sexual abuse allegations.

Covington is just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
The Covington diocese now spans 14 counties and has 89,000
parishioners.

The lawsuit also covers some Kentucky counties that were
part of the diocese until 1988, when a new diocese in
Lexington formed.

More at:
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/300669.html

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