March 08, 2005

Archdiocese settles suit with insurance company

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By O’Ryan Johnson
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

The Boston archdiocese has settled its lawsuit against an insurance company it claims failed to legally defend and compensate the church in hundreds of cases of clergy sexual abuse.

The archdiocese sued Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company in March 2004 shortly after settling 541 cases of alleged molestation by priests for $84 million.

The terms of the Lumbermens settlement were not officially released, but church spokeswoman Kelly O'Connor Lynch said Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley will make the figure public in the near future.

Two sources told The Associated Press that the insurer paid the archdiocese $20 million last week, after the church finance council approved the settlement.

Posted by kshaw at March 8, 2005 07:22 AM