MISSOURI
The Examiner
By Karl Zinke
karl.zinke@examiner.net
Posted Oct. 15, 2014
Independence, Mo.
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has agreed to settle 30 sexual abuse lawsuits for nearly $10 million, the diocese announced Tuesday night.
The agreement for a total of $9.95 million resolves all 30 outstanding claims – including some involving priests in Independence – filed from 2010 to early 2014 alleging abuse by priests from the diocese from 20 or more years ago.
“The Diocese sincerely hopes that this settlement can bring about some closure to those hurt by abuse in the past,” the diocese wrote in a press release. “The Diocese also prays for a healing which can bring peace to the hearts of all of those hurt by child sexual abuse.”
The diocese said most of the settlement would be covered by insurance with the remaining amount paid by the diocese itself. The settlement ended the civil lawsuit trial brought by Jon Couzens against Monsignor Thomas O’Brien for alleged abuse in the late 1970s and early ’80s. That trial has been in court in Independence for more than a week
David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized the diocese’s timing in settling the lawsuits in a press release.
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