CONNECTICUT
The Day
By Karen Florin
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 preschool age and continuing into her college years.
The case of Jane Doe #2 was to start trial Tuesday 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 three 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.
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