Jury Awards $37 Million for Abuse

Victims of a former Lutheran minister who sexually molested boys won a jury award of nearly $37 million Thursday, bringing the total payout in the case to about $69 million.

The case involving former minister Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr. is the most serious to hit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has about 5 million members, and has drawn comparisons to the worst abuses committed during the Roman Catholic molestation crisis.

In addition to Thursday’s verdict, a lawyer for the plaintiffs disclosed that separate settlements reached before the trial totaled $32 million. Those deals were struck with the Chicago-based denomination and the seminary in Columbus, Ohio, that Thomas attended.

The lawsuit charged that former Bishop Mark Herbener of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod, and former bishop’s assistant Earl Eliason, ignored warnings about Thomas’ behavior.

Thomas, minister of Marshall’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church from 1997 until his arrest in 2001, was sentenced last year to 397 years in state prison for molesting boys.

The victims said the congregation was not warned about several incidents in which Thomas was accused of inappropriate behavior.

Nine plaintiffs won awards in the lawsuit, ranging from $50,000 to $9.8 million. “I find no reason the verdict should not be accepted,” said District Judge Bonnie Leggat. The earlier settlements included those nine victims plus five others.

Other terms of settlements reached by plaintiffs’ lawyer Edward Hohn include apologies to victims and parishioners nationwide; development of a strategy for preventing and handling sexual misconduct, including a review of all current ministers; and creation of a denomination-wide national reporting system for sexual abuse.

“Just as important today are the non-economic agreements, which will hopefully not only be the start of a new reformation for the Lutheran Church but will also serve to raise the bar nationally for all institutions charged with public trust over our children,” Hohn said.