Priest sex abuse lawsuit settled

August 7, 2011

Delaware: Roman Catholic order, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, has reached a settlement with the attorneys representing 39 survivors of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of their priests. The Oblates have agreed to pay $24.8 million to settle the lawsuits. They have also agreed to publicly release the names of the 12 accused abusers for the first time. Eight of the 12 are deceased and the remaining four have been removed from the ministry.

The Oblates began working toward a settlement after their appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, challenging the legality of bringing suit on the basis of child sexual abuse outside of a certain period of time, was denied in 2007.

Bart Dalton, an attorney for 24 of the 39 plaintiffs, indicated satisfaction with the terms of the settlement. He went on to tell the Associated Press, "Children in our community are going to be safer. The survivors of abuse are the ones who stood up here, and they’re the ones who made things better for everybody."