SPRINGFILED (MA)
WWLP
Published : Monday, 30 Jul 2012
Nicole Nalepa
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – On Thursday night, lawyers representing the Springfield Diocese and Andrew Nicastro came to a six figure settlement in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit.
41 year-old Nicastro said he was sexually abused as a child by Father Alfred Graves, a former priest in the Diocese. He claims there were others within the church’s system that did nothing to protect him.
But on Friday morning, the jury in his case was dismissed, and with his family beside him, Nicastro and his attorney announced that the case–which they had been fighting for for 3 years–was finally closed.
“I think it’s the first case in the last 8 years of clergy sex abuse cases that have been tried in Massachusetts….Based upon my personal knowledge it is among the highest settlement of these cases for an individual in Massachusetts,” said John Stobierski, Nicastro’s attorney.
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