Norwich Diocese Settles Molestation Lawsuit for $1.1 Million

By Karen Florin
The Day
March 23, 2015

http://www.theday.com/policefirecourts/20150323/-norwich-diocese-settles-molestation-lawsuit-for-11-million-

The Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a Massachusetts woman’s claim that the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea molested her about 60 times, beginning when she was of preschool age and continuing into her teenage years.

The case of Jane Doe #2 was to start trial today in Hartford Superior Court, but attorneys for the plaintiff, the Catholic Diocese and its insurer reached an agreement following three days of mediation conducted by Judge William H. Bright.

The 50-year-old woman claimed Shea, the subject of at least 15 molestation claims, French-kissed her, fondled her and touched her inappropriately between the ages of 3 and 16. She had met Shea when she was a small child attending St. Joseph’s Parish in Webster, Mass., and said he continued to molest and stalk her when she attended Marianapolis Prep School in Thompson and Albertus Magnus College in New Haven.

New London attorney Kelly E. Reardon and her father, Robert I. Reardon Jr., had represented the woman, who Kelly Reardon said suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression since childhood.

“She has been living her nightmare for over 40 years,” Reardon said. “While recent psychological counseling has helped her to begin the road to recovery, she has a long way to go. This compensation she is finally receiving after nearly three years of litigation gives her a sense of vindication and the ability to continue the healing process.”

Attorney Gary C. Kaisen of the Milano and Wanat law firm of Branford and attorney Wesley Horton of Hartford had represented the diocese.

“We had a number of defenses and a number of legal arguments, but in the end, with the good guidance of Judge Bright, we thought resolving it was the right thing to do at the number that Judge Bright recommended,” Kaisen said in a phone interview.

The woman had sued the Norwich diocese, which supervised Shea during the years in question, and its leader at the time, retired Bishop Daniel P. Reilly. Robert Reardon said in a phone interview that he deposed Reilly, who is 86, two years ago in the case and if the case went to trial was prepared to show the jury a videotape of the deposition since diocese officials informed him Reilly, who lives in Worcester, was not well enough to testify.

Also prepared to testify, Reardon said, were six other victims of Shea, none of whom had recovered any money because the statute of limitations for bringing a lawsuit had expired. Victims are allowed to bring lawsuits up to 30 years after they reach the age of majority, which is 18.

Attorneys on both sides were prepared to call doctors with expertise in childhood molestation, post traumatic stress disorder, migraine headaches and diabetes.

Two years ago, the diocese settled for $1.1 million with a New London woman, also represented by the Reardon firm, who had been molested by Shea while attending St. Joseph Church in New London in 1976. Shea died in 2006 at the age of 85.

Robert Reardon said that he doesn’t know of any other open claims against Shea but that people contact his office regularly about priest molestation. Some decide against pursuing a lawsuit “because of the ordeal and embarrassment of bringing them,” he said.

“There are ways of determining whether or not a case has merit,” Reardon said. “In this case there was little doubt Father Shea had molested this woman. She has photographs of her as a child with Father Shea holding her on his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist when she was 10 years old.”

Contact: k.florin@theday.com