Catholic Church Offers Cash to Settle Abuse Claims – With a Catch
Posted on: August 2, 2019 Catholic Church Sexual Abuse
In an effort to cut the total number and size of payouts made by the Catholic Church to its sexual abuse victims, and to hide key documents from the public, the Diocese of Scranton, PA and other dioceses in the US are offering child sexual abuse victims’ closed-door settlements. These settlement programs are run by third-party administrators outside of the church and offer ‘swift’ resolutions opposed to trials.
The Catholic Church claims that these settlement programs are a way to guarantee payments to victims whereas with a trial, no award is guaranteed. On the surface, they may be right. However, if a sexual abuse victim chooses to accept a settlement payment it is likely to be substantially lower than a jury award from trial. Moreover, the victim is no longer able to file a future lawsuit against the Catholic Church or talk about their sexual abuse publicly. These programs would undoubtedly save the Catholic Church hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts, and equally as important, shield the Church from releasing key documents that may indicate a larger sexual abuse cover-up.
The entire article can be viewed here.
Learn More About Filing A Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Claim
If you or a loved one was a victim of Catholic Church sexual abuse, we encourage you to visit our Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyers webpage to learn more. Or if you would like to speak with one of us directly, you can call us at 1-800-941-7209 for a FREE confidential consultation. Don’t wait; your time to file a claim may be limited.