Major Settlements and Monetary Awards in Civil Suits

Sexual abuse litigation in the United States almost always ends in settlement. Until recently, the Catholic bishops dealt with the cases one-by-one and required confidentiality agreements as a condition of settlement. This strategy was apparently intended to keep victims from connecting with each other and to keep cases out of the media. The Kos trial in the late 1990s, with its large monetary award, confirmed the bishops in their fear of the courtroom. We know of about 30 cases that have gone to trial since 1950 out of more than 3,000.

When the current phase of the crisis broke in 2002 and California opened a statute-of-limitations window for civil suits, the huge case load prompted judges to consolidate the cases. Dioceses that filed for bankruptcy also obtained consolidation on favorable terms. In the Orange diocese, the leverage of the consolidated plaintiffs was used to obtain diocesan documents as a condition of settlement, but that success has been difficult to repeat. The Los Angeles archdiocese settled with a promise to release documents, but no documents have yet been forthcoming.

Total settlements and awards 1950-present would appear to be over $3 billion, not including treatment costs and legal fees. Here’s how we estimate that total: (1) $1,902,825,000 in large settlements and awards (in excess of $1 million) as outlined in the table below; (2) pre-2002 payouts, documented in local John Jay reports, of more than $750 million (some of that amount overlaps the data in the table below); and (3) smaller post-2002 settlements (under $1 million each) likely totaling at least $500 million.

This $3 billion estimate far exceeds the dire prediction of Doyle, Peterson, and Mouton in 1985. And $3 billion might even be an underestimate. Our table shows payouts to 3,547 survivors, only about 27 percent of the over 13,000 survivors who the bishops say have come forward. The total number of victims may be 100,000.

We will be adding smaller settlements to the following table. If you know of a settlement that we should include or have corrections to the list, please email us a citation or a link to a newspaper article. This table was last updated on 7/7/08.

[a] Original jury award on 7/23/97 was $119.6 million.
[b] Original jury award on 7/16/98 was $30 million.
[c] Fee is actual/stated.
[d] Priest count is for 11/26/02 settlement; amount and victim count are 5/22/03 aggregates.
[e] Original 12/3/92 settlement involved 68 victims, but others subsequently joined.

Source: News articles and diocesan documents; see links. We use the standard 40 percent for attorneys fees and expenses, unless our sources provide a lower number.