OAKLAND (CA)
Oakland Tribune
FROM STAFF REPORTS
OAKLAND — A Placer County woman will receive $3.3 million from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa under the terms of a settlement announced Friday in a priest sex abuse case.
Attorneys for the woman, Roberta Saum, said the settlement is the largest yet for a female abuse victim. The case was one of about 160 priest sex abuse cases in Northern California — called Clergy III — that are being overseen by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw.
Saum, 44, of Gold Run, said she was a troubled youngster who turned to the Catholic Church for guidance at age 15 and instead found herself victimized by a priest for the next six years.
While the sexual relationship with Don Kimball, then a priest at Resurrection Church, ended when Saum was 21, she said emotional manipulation continued for 20 years. Kimball is no longer a priest.
"This settlement gives me closure and vindication of what happened to me," said Saum, flanked by her husband and attorney at a news conference announcing the settlement on the steps of Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.