Maine Diocese Settles Sex Abuse Lawsuit for $1.2m

By Trisha Thadani
Boston Globe
August 15, 2016

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/08/15/abuse/GGWWx6oCxNZD6si6dMIeQI/story.html

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $1.2 million, according to a lawyer for six men who accused the church of covering up abuse allegations against a former priest.

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said the men were childhood victims of the Rev. James Vallely between the late 1950s and late 1970s. The lawsuit claimed that church leaders were aware of multiple abuse allegations against Vallely for decades but “fraudulently concealed it.”

Instead of removing Vallely from ministry, church leaders transferred him to another parish “where children were placed at risk of further sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest,” Garabedian’s office said in a press release.

Garabedian is holding a news conference Monday to announce details of the settlement, which was reached about two weeks ago.

Vallely retired in 1988 and died in 1997, according to published reports.