Merryfield's Settle Priest Sex Abuse Suit

WHBY
March 19, 2013

http://www.whby.com/index.php/News/WHBY_News/83915

Two brothers and the Green Bay Catholic Diocese have a deal in a child sex abuse lawsuit.

Troy and Todd Merryfield sued the diocese for fraud, after they were molested by former priest John Feeney, in 1978. They claim the diocese should have told parishioners at St. Nicholas Church in Freedom, about Feeney's past sex abuse allegations.

The Merryfield's will receive $700,000. That's the same amount a jury awarded in their first trial, but a judge threw out the jury's decision, after determining that one juror was biased. A second trial was scheduled for May.

Attorneys for the Merryfield's say the settlement was in the best interest of everyone involved.

Bishop David Ricken released a statement to offer an apology to the Merryfield's, and other child sex abuse victims.