KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal
By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The nation's first class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests will be settled for $120 million, the Diocese of Covington and an attorney for the alleged victims announced yesterday.
The proposed settlement, still to be approved by a Boone Circuit Court judge, calls for the diocese to pay $40 million from its assets and $80 million from insurance policies. If insurers balk, the diocese has agreed to sue them for the money.
Diocesan spokesman Tim Fitzgerald said he didn't know what would happen if any lawsuits against insurers were unsuccessful.
If the diocese pays the full $120 million, the settlement would be the largest for a Catholic diocese in the United States since the sex-abuse scandal unfolded about three years ago.
The settlement would be more than four times as large as the $25.7 million settlement reached in 2003 between the Archdiocese of Louisville and 243 plaintiffs.
Posted by kshaw at June 4, 2005 04:35 AM