WINONA (MN)
Minnesota Lawyer [St. Paul MN]
November 7, 2025
By Laura Brown
In Brief
- Jury awards $4.8 million to clergy abuse survivor Charles Brown.
- Abuse by Rev. Joseph Cashman occurred at Lourdes High School in the 1970s.
- Lawsuit filed under Minnesota’s 2013 Child Victims Act.
- Diocese of Winona-Rochester previously filed for bankruptcy amid abuse claims.
More than 50 years after he was abused by a priest, and nearly a decade after he served a lawsuit, a man who was sexually assaulted as a child has received a significant jury award. An Olmsted County jury has awarded more than $4.8 million to Charles Brown, initially identified as Doe 222.
After Brown’s mother died when he was just 6 years old, he was adopted by his devout Catholic aunt and uncle. He subsequently became Catholic and attended Lourdes High School in Rochester.
The high school is where he encountered the Rev. Joseph Cashman, a Roman Catholic priest employed by the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Lourdes, and Rochester Catholic Schools. Between the ages of 14 to 16, Brown was sexually assaulted by Cashman roughly 25 to 30 times, according to court documents. Brown did not report the abuse for decades due to the “culture of the Catholic Church,” which he said created “pressure” on him not to report. He also stated that Cashman would tell his adoptive parents that he was engaged in substance abuse if he did not comply.
As a result of the abuse, Brown has had mental health challenges. He has been unable to sustain aromantic relationship due to lack of trust and doubts about his sexuality following the abuse…
In 1991, Brown first reported the abuse to the diocese. At that point, the statute of limitations to bring a lawsuit had run. However, Minnesota passed the Child Victims Act in 2013, allowing him to bring the lawsuit.
Brown served the lawsuit in 2016 during the window of three years brought about by the Act. In July 2023, Brown filed the complaint against the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Lourdes High School of Rochester Inc., and Rochester Catholic Schools. He asserted counts of negligence, negligent supervision, and negligent retention, against all defendants.
Cashman died in 2018. According to the diocese, it became known that Cashman had “inappropriate sexual conduct” with an adult male seminarian in 1986. The diocese later became aware of Cashman’s sexual assault of minor students. He was sent to St. Luke Institute for assessment and treatment before his ministerial privileges were suspended in 1992.
Brown claimed that the abuse he suffered was foreseeable as the diocese was aware that some of its priests had sexually abused minors. The diocese responded that it was unaware that Cashman was a danger and asserted that it did not have a duty to use reasonable cause to prevent the sexual assault perpetrated by Cashman unless and until it was aware that Cashman was sexually abusing other minors.
Lourdes High School and Rochester Catholic Schools were quickly dismissed from the suit, but the Diocese of Winona-Rochester stayed on. Although the diocese moved for summary judgment, that motion was denied.
On Nov. 3, 2025, the jury awarded Brown $4.8 million for past pain, disability, embarrassment, and emotional distress. It awarded $20,000 for future pain, disability, embarrassment, and emotional distress, and it awarded $35,000 for future health care expenses.
This is far from the first suit against the diocese or the first one involving Cashman. In June 2025, a Minnesota jury awarded a man $7.6 million following abuse over a period of three years by Cashman.
The Diocese of Winona-Rochester filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 after many survivors filed claims against the diocese. At that time, there were over 100 pending cases with allegations of sexual assault from 1960 to 1986. A trust for survivors is funded with more than $20 million of diocesan assets.