Diocese Says Yes to a Deal for Settling Molest Suit

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has agreed to pay $54,700 to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 13-year-old Anaheim boy who claimed he was sexually molested by a priest five years ago, attorneys said Tuesday.

The boy’s mother had filed the $2-million lawsuit against the diocese and Father Robert Foley of St. Justin Martyr Catholic Church in Anaheim. The suit said that when the boy was 8, Foley sodomized him during a church-sponsored Boy Scout camping trip in 1983 and warned him to keep quiet or the devil would get him.

Foley was an associate pastor at St. Justin in 1983 and ran a Scout troop made up mostly of boys from the parish. No charges were filed as a result of the alleged incident. Foley is said to be living in London, but attorneys said no one is certain of his whereabouts.

Robert Aran, the family’s attorney, said the mother agreed not to seek criminal charges against Foley as long as he was not allowed to continue working with children. But Foley remained in the diocese for about six months after the incident.

The diocese has admitted no wrongdoing by agreeing to the settlement, said Daniel Clifford, an attorney representing the church. He said it was more economically feasible for the church to settle than continue litigation.

“The position of the diocese is that the church was never liable. They paid the money rather than go forward with a very expensive lawsuit,” Clifford said.

Under the terms of the settlement, the boy will be paid $19,000 immediately after the agreement is approved by a judge, Aran said. Then, beginning with his 18th birthday, he will receive annual payments of about $8,900 for four years. A court hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled for next week.

Clifford argued unsuccessfully in Orange County Superior Court last year that the priest’s alleged actions could not have been predicted by the church and that the diocese should not be held responsible.

But Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk ruled that the church may be held liable because Foley was supposed to be the moral adviser to children.