CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Katherine Seligman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 24, 2004
Three former students at De La Salle High School in Concord who say they were sexually abused by counselors or teachers have received $6.3 million to settle three lawsuits against the Catholic order that operates the school, attorneys and plaintiffs said Thursday.
The former students, all now in their 30s and 40s, say the alleged abuse by members of the Christian Brothers Order happened during the mid-1970s to early '80s. One man says a teacher molested him on a school-sanctioned ski trip, and a second says a counselor abused him at a youth retreat in Napa.
In a third case, a former student says a different counselor repeatedly molested him during sessions off campus. The Christian Brothers order, which runs the prestigious private school, had transferred that counselor to Concord despite knowing that he had relationships with "sexual overtones" at another school, according to a 1968 letter from a Christian Brothers provincial leader that came to light after the lawsuit was filed.
"His behavior around me was as if he was entitled to touch me at any time, " said plaintiff Chris Barbour, 41. He said the counselor had molested him during sessions that he had sought out as a result of an earlier incidence of sexual abuse unconnected to the Christian Brothers.
Posted by kshaw at December 24, 2004 07:59 AM