Catholic Diocese of Syracuse paying $100M to settle NY child sex abuse casesBy Steve Janoski and Priscilla DeGregory
August 1, 2023
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse will pay $100 million to survivors of child sexual abuse at the hands of the church’s clergy, religious leaders, lay employees and volunteers.
The diocese — which filed for bankruptcy in June 2020 after victims filed more than 100 lawsuits against it — reached the agreement late last week with the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, whose members all survived child sex abuse, according to a press release.
“This settlement shows the commitment of sexual abuse survivors, especially this committee, to stick together, and that when the Diocese tries to work with victims, instead of against them, a consensual resolution can be reached,” Jordan Merson, the attorney who represented the committee’s now-deceased vice chair and continues to represent nearly two dozen survivors, said in a statement.
The lawsuits were filed after the state passed the New York Child Victims Act in 2019, which extended the statute of limitations for survivors of sexual abuse to file claims.
The settlement is the second by a New York diocese and the second-largest by a Catholic institution during a bankruptcy proceeding, according to the Times Union.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/01/catholic-diocese-in-syracuse-will-pay-100-million-to-settle-sex-abuse-cases/
