California Catholic Church Settlement Fund Created
Posted on: November 15, 2019 Catholic Church Sexual Abuse
Six California Catholic Diocese including: Diocese of Fresno, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of Sacramento, Diocese of San Bernardino, Diocese of San Diego, and Los Angeles Archdiocese have recently unveiled a new sexual abuse settlement program for victims of childhood priest molestation in the Catholic Church. The California Catholic Church Settlement fund allows victims to file a claim without having to directly sue the Catholic Church in court, but the deadline to file a claim is January 31, 2020. Typically to file a lawsuit victims would be governed by California’s Statute of limitation laws.
Notably, this California Catholic Church sexual abuse compensation fund will be handled by the same administrators who handled the fund for victims of the 9/11/2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York. The fund administrators will oversee the total dollar amount for each Catholic Church settlement payout with no cap on the potential compensation. The settlement fund was designed to cover most of California’s Catholics as the six dioceses include more than ten million Catholics or about 80% of the state’s total.
The fund is open to anyone that was a victim of priest molestation as a minor in the six California dioceses and victims do not need proof of US citizenship to file a claim. Each case will also be confidentially reported to police.
Leading the oversight committee for this California Catholic Church settlement fund is former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta who had this to say during a recent news conference about the program, “We can never erase the pain that you [victims] have endured, but we can assist you in the ongoing process of healing and recovery. Our fervent prayer is that this process in the end can provide some semblance of justice for the victims of crimes that for too long went unpunished.”
In conjunction with the release of the program, the California dioceses said that they would be contacting Catholic Church sex abuse victims who previously reported their abuse to make them aware of the program.
While this settlement and compensation program covers about 80% of California Catholics, there is potentially sexual abuse victims in California not covered under this program.
The entire California compensation program article can be viewed here.
Sexual Abuse Lawyers for California Clergy Abuse Victims
If you or a loved one were a victim of sexual abuse within the Diocese of Fresno, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of Sacramento, Diocese of San Bernardino, Diocese of San Diego, or Los Angeles Archdiocese contact our firm today. Our law firm handles California sexual abuse lawsuits and can help you understand how long you have to file a clergy abuse claim in the state of California. Call us now at 1-800-941-7209 for a FREE and PRIVATE consultation.