Church Settles Sex Abuse Lawsuits, Including against an Orange County Priest

By Tony Saavedra
Orange County Register
March 30, 2016

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/coughlin-710346-boston-lawsuits.html

Seven people who leveled sexual abuse allegations against clergy – including one priest who spent time in Orange County – settled lawsuits against the Boston Archdiocese this week for $778,500.

Richard T. Coughlin, a now-defrocked priest who ran the All-American Boys Chorus in Costa Mesa, is among the ex-clergy named in the lawsuits settled this week.

Coughlin came from Boston to the Diocese of Orange in 1965. He was suspended in 1993 after at least six people from Southern California accused him of sexual abuse. Lawsuits against Coughlin have resulted in more than $3 million in settlements.

Accusers in Boston and New Hampshire alleged they were abused by Coughlin before he transfered to the West Coast decades ago. Beside founding the chorus, he was a priest at St. Michael Norbertine Seminary in Orange and St. Anthony Claret in Anaheim. Coughlin was suspended from the priesthood.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said Wednesday a now 68-year-old Boston man accused Coughlin of sexual misconduct in one of the cases settled this week. The man alleged Coughlin abused him from 1957 to 1962 in two cottages and a hotel room.