CALIFORNIA
KansasCity.com
BY BRANDON BAILEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers
SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - In its largest settlement with clergy abuse victims to date, the Archdiocese of San Francisco will pay more than $21 million to 15 people who were sexually molested by Bay Area priests - including two popular San Jose pastors and an expert on church law who once advised American bishops on how to handle claims of sexual abuse.
The latest settlement, in the same range as previous awards, could become the standard for resolving more than 100 other claims against Roman Catholic dioceses in the Bay Area.
More than two-thirds of the settlement will come from insurance policies, and the archdiocese said none of the money will come from parish or school funds. Though the settlement works out to an average of $1.4 million for each individual, attorneys said the specific amounts varied for each person and would not be disclosed.
All sides had praise for Friday's agreement - which several plaintiffs described as a great relief.
"I always wanted an apology. I gave up on that, but this is an acknowledgment," said Vivian Tipton, 42, who tried for years to convince San Jose church officials that she had been repeatedly molested in the 1970s by the Rev. Arthur Harrison at his cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He was pastor at St. Francis Cabrini parish in San Jose when he met Tipton's mother, but was not her parish priest.
Posted by kshaw at June 11, 2005 07:31 AM