Yakima Diocese Priest Exonerated in Lawsuit Settlement

By Tammy Ayer
Yakima Herald-Republic
December 18, 2020

https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/yakima-diocese-priest-exonerated-in-lawsuit-settlement/article_5d2e9a5d-2a3a-5d76-908e-423fdc354508.html

One of four priests accused by an Ellensburg man of abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been exonerated.

The Rev. Seamus Kerr, a senior priest with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, was exonerated as part of a settlement, according to a news release from the diocese. The March 2019 lawsuit filed in Kittitas County Superior Court alleged an Ellensburg man was sexually abused by priests at St. Andrew Catholic Church when he was a minor.

An order of dismissal was entered Dec. 10 after the settlement was reached. The diocese, which has provided more than $10,000 in mental health counseling for the man, agreed to provide an additional $5,000 in counseling payments, the release said.