CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant
By Dave Altimari
On the eve of a civil trial, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has agreed to pay a woman $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged she was sexually assaulted more than 60 times by the late Rev. Thomas Shea.
The 49-year-old woman, identified as Jane Doe No. 2, was prepared to testify that Shea, who was a friend of her family, started molesting her when she was 3 years old and that the assaults continued into her adult life.
Shea died in 2006. It is the second time in the last two years the Diocese has settled a lawsuit just as evidence was about to begin. In 2013, it settled a lawsuit by an unidentified woman for the same amount before a trial was to start in Hartford Superior Court.
New London attorney Kelly Reardon, whose firm represented both women, said the settlement was reached after three days of mediation. The settlement spares her client the stress of having to testify in open court about Shea, she said.
“She was prepared to testify but would have been very hard for her to relive it all again,” Reardon said. “”My client has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression since childhood. She has been living her nightmare for over 40 years.”
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