$2.4 Million Jury Award in Priest Abuse Case

By Don Rush
The Delmarva Public Radio
November 19, 2013

http://delmarvapublicradio.net/post/24-million-jury-award-priest-abuse-case

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A federal jury in Delaware has awarded $2.4 million to a New Jersey man who claimed he was abused as a boy more than 30 years ago by a cleric who worked in the Archdiocese of New York.

Forty-four-year-old Brian Elliott said he was repeatedly molested by Brother Damian Galligan in several states, including while passing through Delaware during a trip to Virginia in 1981.

Galligan is 86 and lives in a Missouri retirement facility. He initially denied the allegations but later decided not to fight the lawsuit, saying he was in poor health and didn't have the strength to do so.

Jurors heard testimony Monday from Elliott and from Peter Marghella, another alleged victim of Galligan who recently became director of the New York State Office of Emergency Management.