OAKLAND (CA)
Mercury News
By Bruce Gerstman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
OAKLAND - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland announced Friday that it had settled lawsuits with 56 victims of sex abuse for a total of $56 million.
The settlements come after about four months of negotiations and ends all such suits against the diocese.
"My clients are relieved that they can finally bring this to closure," said attorney Rick Simons, who represented about half of the plaintiffs. "They can be satisfied that they have done something concrete to make sure the sex abuse they experienced is never repeated."
The individual settlements range from $200,000 to more than $2 million, Simons said.
The Oakland diocese, which encompasses churches in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is tied to about a third of Northern California sexual abuse cases, involving 24 priests. Northern California dioceses have been involved in more than 150 sex abuse lawsuits.