Diocese of Duluth ordered to pay $8.1 million to sexual abuse survivor

By Dan Branovan
Northlands News Center
November 4, 2015

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/crime/Diocese-of-Duluth-ordered-to-pay-81-million-to-sexual-abuse-survivor-340392442.html

St. Paul, MN (NNCNOW.com) - A child sex abuse case against the Diocese of Duluth has garnered an $8.1 million verdict against them in a Ramsey County court room.

Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald was accused of sexually abusing William Weis several times in 1978 at St. Catherine's Church in Squaw Lake, Minnesota which is part of the Duluth Diocese.

This is the first case under the Minnesota Child Victim Act to go forward.

The jury attributed 60% fault to the Diocese of Duluth and 40% to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a religious order based in St. Paul, MN.

Father Fitzgerald was an Oblate priest working in the Diocese of Duluth when he sexually abused Weis.