New York archdiocese to pay $800 million to settle sex abuse cases

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – The Catholic Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay $800 million in a settlement with 1,300 sex abuse survivors, one of the ​largest payouts in a wave of lawsuits over clergy sex ‌abuse in the United States.

The settlement is second only to the $880 million deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024. The Catholic Church has paid billions of dollars in settlements across the U.S. in the past several ‌years, ​after New York and other states enacted ⁠laws that temporarily enabled ⁠victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits over decades-old crimes.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing abuse survivors, said that the settlement was a triumph that would end nearly six years of legal ​battles with the archdiocese and its insurers. The proposed settlement is subject to final documentation and full survivor agreement before it ⁠is complete, Anderson said.

In addition to the $800 ⁠million payment, the Archdiocese agreed to release documents ​pertaining to sexual offenders in the Church.

“It is far from full accountability, ​but it is a measure of responsibility,” Anderson said in ‌a Friday statement.

The settlement will allow abuse survivors to litigate against the Church’s insurers for additional payouts.

The settlement is also notable in that it avoids a bankruptcy by the archdiocese. New York’s Child ⁠Victims Act, passed in 2019, and similar laws in other states have driven many large Catholic organizations to seek bankruptcy protection around the U.S.

In ⁠New York, every diocese ‌except for the New York archdiocese and the ⁠Brooklyn Diocese has filed for bankruptcy to finalize ​similar ‌settlements of sex abuse lawsuits.

The church and survivors ​began mediation in ⁠December before retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Buckley, who also mediated the Los Angeles settlement. In a statement at the time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged that sexual abuse of minors had been a shameful chapter of the Church’s past.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing ​by William Maclean)