Abuse claims are settled for $198 million

SAN DIEGO -- After years of negotiations, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego announced Friday a $198.1-million settlement with 144 sexual abuse victims -- an amount second only to the $764 million that the Los Angeles Archdiocese has paid out since the scandal gripped the church nationwide in 2002.

The settlement is more than twice what the San Diego diocese had offered before filing for bankruptcy protection in February and slightly tops the average of $1.3 million per victim in the Los Angeles case.

In announcing the Los Angeles settlement in July, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he had spoken with San Diego Bishop Robert Brom and told him that he hoped the San Diego case could be resolved by Labor Day.

San Diego diocese lawyers initially had insisted that, unlike Los Angeles, the diocese here did not have the insurance coverage or assets to make a larger settlement without crippling the church’s spiritual and social service efforts.

But that position may have changed late last month when Bankruptcy Judge Louise De Carl Adler said the diocese offer of $95 million was “far below the historic statewide average” of payments made to victims of clergy abuse. She also repeatedly criticized the diocese’s financial record-keeping as byzantine.

The settlement was announced in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Leo Pappas, who had overseen marathon negotiation sessions this week. Abuse victims received permission to hug Pappas and shake his hand; many were crying and Pappas’ eyes were said to be glistening.

“It’s been a long, arduous struggle, and we’re delighted that these victims are finally getting justice,” said lawyer Andrea Leavitt, who represented some of the claimants.

As in Los Angeles and Orange County, the prospect of the abuse lawsuits going to trial apparently helped motivate church leaders to reach a settlement.

The bankruptcy judge ruled two weeks ago that some of the lawsuits against the diocese could go to Superior Court. In July, just as lawsuits were set to go to trial, the Los Angeles archdiocese settled for $660 million, bringing its total known payments, with those of its religious orders and insurers, to $764 million since 2002. In 2004, the Orange County diocese settled 90 cases for $100 million as trials approached.

“Once again, I apologize to victims of abuse by ministers of the church in the diocese of San Diego,” Brom said in a written statement. “I apologize, as well, to their families and friends who have been affected by these crimes and this abuse of power.

“I am very, very sorry for the suffering we have caused them, and I pray that they will walk with God for a renewed life.”

Calling the bankruptcy filing a failure, Brom said the settlement “actually takes us beyond available resources and will result in some damaging consequences for the mission of the church in this diocese for a number of years.”

The settlement calls for the diocese to pay $77,071,350 and its insurance carrier $75,650,000 to settle 111 cases. Religious orders will pay $30,269,098 for 22 cases. The Diocese of San Bernardino, with help from its insurance carrier, will pay $15,134,552 for 11 cases. The churches of the San Bernardino diocese were part of the San Diego diocese until 1978.

In San Bernardino, church officials predicted that the local payment would not require layoffs or cutbacks. Bishop Gerald Barnes, like Brom, offered an apology and said, “I pray that you will forgive the church its faults and continue to see the great good the church carries out.”

The San Diego diocese had filed for protection in Bankruptcy Court in February on the eve of its first trial. Claimants said the diocese was trying to shield publicity-shy Brom from testifying. Filing for bankruptcy put the lawsuits on hold.

But two weeks ago, in a final push for a settlement, Adler ruled that 42 of the lawsuits could go to trial. She also had threatened to throw the diocese’s bankruptcy claim out of court as meritless. A hearing on that issue was set for next week.

The San Diego diocese, with 1 million Catholics and 98 churches, was the fifth and largest diocese in the country to file for bankruptcy in the face of multiple lawsuits for sexual abuse. Other dioceses filing for bankruptcy were in Tucson; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Davenport, Iowa.

“This is a huge victory for brave, deeply hurt victims,” David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said of the San Diego settlement. “Because of their courage, kids are safer today. Without their courage, dozens of predators might still be in parishes.”

Asked about the dollar figure, Clohessy said, “No settlement is equitable. No amount of money can restore shattered dreams or stolen childhoods.”

As part of the settlement, the diocese will release additional documents about priests suspected of sexual abuse. Claimants allege that diocese officials, including Brom, shielded the priests and transferred them from parish to parish.

In March, the diocese released the names of 38 priests it said were the subject of “credible allegations.” None was still working for the diocese, and many were long dead.

“This has taken years to get here,” said Michael Bang, who said he was molested for seven years by a San Diego priest. “I’m mad as hell it took that long to get here.”

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tony.perry@latimes.com

Times staff writer Maeve Reston contributed to this report.