Catholic Church dioceses in the United States have paid out over $4 billion to settle cases filed against those dioceses regarding child sex abuse claims. Since the 1980s, when the child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church first began to come to light, court settlements have resulted from many civil suits filed against the Church. Nonetheless, as a result of these settlements, many dioceses have filed for bankruptcy. Once a diocese files for bankruptcy, the lawsuits are suspended while a judge determines how much the diocese must pay to its creditors, including the victims.
The settlements to the victims only represent the victims that have come forward about their abuse. These numbers are vastly underreported and the actual number of victims is expected to be much larger. Most recently, many states have extended their statutes of limitations with respect to child sex abuse victims. In these states, any person who experienced child sex abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, its clergy members, priests, or other people at the Church, can still file a claim, even if the abuse happened decades ago.
The Catholic Church must pay out settlements to the victims, rather than the individual abusers themselves since the Church spent decades covering up the abuse. The Church failed to report the abuse to appropriate authorities and attempted to protect its own reputation by simply moving the abusers to other parts of the Church rather than helping the victims or appropriately addressing the claims.
Michigan Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases
In Michigan, many abusers from the Catholic clergy were listed on the journalism site, ProPublica. This is a crucial step for the Catholic Church to provide transparency after decades of covering up and protecting these abusers.
Thirty-nine priests in total in Michigan were revealed on the list. However, this number is far lower than the actual number of abusers that existed over the years. It is evident that many abusers were omitted from the list and that the Church failed to provide a standard for how they determined who was credibly accused. Even more concerning is that one of the largest diocese in Michigan, the Diocese of Grand Rapids, has yet to produce a public list.
Nonetheless, the Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel conducted a Clergy Abuse Investigation. As of October 2020, eleven men were or are being prosecuted by the Attorney General. Through the investigation, 454 priests have been accused and 811 victims have been identified. The investigators found that clergymen and victims were in each of the seven dioceses in Michigan, with the most being in the Grand Rapids diocese. This number will likely increase as the investigation continues and the investigators review the remaining seventy-eight boxes of evidence and documents.
The state has set up a clergy sex abuse tip line (1-844-324-3374), which has generated 750 tips, which led to the discovery of 435 more victims, 316 accused priests, and 112 new police investigations, 180 interviews, and 285 additional police reports.You can search the various lists that have been published on the ProPublica website here.
How much has the Catholic Church paid out in the sex abuse scandal?
Between July 2018 and June 2019, the Catholic Church provinces and dioceses that did respond to a CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) Survey reported they paid out $282 million in relation to allegations during that period.
The largest settlement amount was from the Archdiocese in Los Angeles, totaling $660 million in 2007. Other significant settlement amounts include:
- $200 million from the Church in San Diego, which settled through the bankruptcy processes;
- $166.1 million from the Oregon Province of the Jesuits, another settlement in bankruptcy;
- $100 million in Orange, CA;
- $84.25 million in Boston, MA;
- $79.082 million in Covington, KY; and
- $77.425 million in Wilmington, DE.
Experts predict that the total payout for Catholic Church sex abuse victims will be over $4 billion to settle cases, based on the recent wave of claims that victims have filed.
What is the average amount of settlements for Catholic Church sex abuse cases?
Bishop-accountability.org is a nonprofit advocacy group that provided a detailed record of many of the settlements on record. The group reports that based on the reported settlement amounts, the average victim payout for sex abuse committed by clergy was $268,466.
The largest awards for an individual usually result from a verdict at a civil trial. In Rockville Centre, New York, two victims received $3,435,000 each from an $11,450,000 verdict at a civil trial in 2007. This diocese, in particular, paid out $62 million since 2017 as compensation to victims.
What to do if you are a victim and how to seek a settlement with the Church
While the Church spent years attempting to cover up its failure to protect the hundreds of thousands of victims from abuse, the legal system can provide victims with access to justice. If you were a victim of child sex abuse and the Catholic Church failed to protect you, you can file a civil lawsuit against the Church and receive compensation for the suffering the abuser and the Church that allowed the abuse caused you.
Contact an experienced lawyer or law firm now to learn about how you can file a claim, identify the role the Church played in your abuse, and receive the appropriate compensation in a settlement or civil lawsuit in court. No amount of money can compensate you for the harm the Church and the abuser caused you. However, compensation can help pay for the suffering you’ve endured, any medical, psychological, or therapy treatment you may need.
Settlement amounts vary based on the facts of each individual case. A law firm can help advocate for the compensation you deserve. Michigan laws now allow victims to file claims, even if the abuse happened decades ago. Contact a law firm to learn about your legal remedies and statutes of limitations in your state.