Settlement, involving former priest who was an alleged serial child sex abuser, was reached as diocese warned victim it would file for bankruptcy

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany recently paid $750,000 to a 47-year-old Saratoga County man who was allegedly sexually abused as a child by a former priest, marking the organization’s first settlement in the hundreds of pending lawsuits that were filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

The unannounced settlement was reached in early June during negotiations in which the diocese’s attorney, Michael L. Costello, had warned the alleged victim, Stephen J. Mittler, that if his case remained on track for its July 25 trial date the diocese would file for bankruptcy before a jury was picked, according to Matthew J. Kelly, Mittler’s attorney.

“Whether that was hyperbole or truth, my client opted to settle to avoid waiting for the bankruptcy to resolve itself, which could take…