WINONA (MN)
WXOW [La Crosse, WI]
September 3, 2026
By Terry Bell
The Diocese of Winona-Rochester has reached a $30 million settlement with its largest insurer nearly eight years after filing for bankruptcy in 2018.
The settlement with United States Fire Insurance Company will impact more than 145 survivors of sexual abuse who filed claims against the diocese in the bankruptcy. This follows an earlier $28 million settlement reached in February 2021 that included the diocese, parishes and schools, and two other insurers but did not include U.S. Fire.
“It’s time – the landscape versus the insurance industry has shifted,” said Jeff Anderson.
The latest settlement comes after three survivors won jury verdicts against the diocese in 2025. Doe 254, who was abused by Fr. Joseph Cashman in the 1970s when he was 15 to 18 years old and a student at Lourdes High School in Rochester, was awarded $7.6 million after a trial in Olmsted County in June 2025. Doe 539, who was abused by lay volunteer Eugene Hubert at St. Mary’s Parish and School in Winona in the early 1970s when he was 13 years old, received a $4.5 million verdict after an eight-day trial in Winona County in October 2025.
Doe 222, who was abused by Fr. Joseph Cashman from ages 14 to 16 from approximately 1972 to 1974 when he was a student at Lourdes High School in Rochester, was awarded $4.8 million after a trial in Olmsted County in October 2025. Under the diocese’s bankruptcy plan, U.S. Fire was responsible to pay these verdicts.
“Each survivor that stood up with courage, sacrifice, and patience can know that there is now a reckoning,” Anderson said. “This is a triumphant turn toward justice.”
A separate lawsuit brought on behalf of the diocese’s bankruptcy against U.S. Fire was set for trial on Sept. 28 in Winona County. That lawsuit sought to force U.S. Fire to pay more than $27 million in judgments the diocese admitted it was responsible for on behalf of nine survivors of Fr. Thomas Adamson. Attorneys Tim Burns and Jesse Bair of the Burns & Bair Law Firm represented the survivors’ interests in that lawsuit.
“This settlement forges a new path forward to combat insurers denials and delays across the country,” Anderson said.