BOSTON (MA)
Hartford Courant
January 4, 2006
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
BOSTON -- The sexual-abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese has not gone away. Instead, it has offered $7.5 million to about 100 people in a group of about 200 with new claims of sexual abuse.
But lawyers for the most recent plaintiffs denounced the offer as "demeaning" and say the archdiocese is treating them differently from the victims who participated in an $85 million global settlement in September 2003.
The archdiocese's proposal for the latest claims would provide settlements ranging from $5,000 to $200,000. The average would be $75,000. In 2003, the 554 plaintiffs received settlements ranging from $80,000 to $300,000 each, with an average of about $155,000.
The archdiocese said its financial condition has deteriorated since the 2003 settlement and it cannot afford to pay the new round of plaintiffs as much.