Stockton Diocese Settles for $3.75m in Priest Molest Case

By Paul Janes
News 10
April 20, 2012

http://www.news10.net/news/article/190494/2/Stockton-Diocese-settles-for-375m-in-priest-molest-case

Father Michael Kelly

The Diocese of Stockton reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit against Father Michael Kelly on claims of sexual abuse.

According to diocese spokesman Terry Davis, the diocese agreed to pay the plaintiff and his attorneys $3.75 million, $2 million of which would be paid by the diocese's insurance.

In response to the settlement, the plaintiff agreed to dismiss his lawsuit and seek no further legal action against the diocese or Kelly, said Davis.

Kelly, who fled to Ireland from Stockton on April 15, was found liable in a civil trial on April 6 of three counts of of child sex abuse involving a former altar boy at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton in the mid-1980s.