April 23, 2005

Diocese Agrees to Pay Woman $3.3 Million to Settle Sex-Abuse Case

OAKLAND (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Donna Horowitz, Special to The Times

OAKLAND — A woman molested by a priest when she was a teen won a $3.3-million settlement from the Diocese of Santa Rosa, attorneys for the woman said Friday.

Attorneys for Roberta Saum, 44, called it the nation's largest settlement for a female victim in a clergy sexual-abuse case.

The agreement, announced on the courthouse steps in Oakland, was reached before the case was to go to trial May 7.

Saum, who lives in Placer County and is a software engineer for Hewlett-Packard Co., said the former priest, Donald Kimball, began a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 and that it lasted six years.

Posted by kshaw at April 23, 2005 07:35 AM