On 7 September 2007 the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed to pay 198.1 million dollars to settle 144 claims of sexual abuse by 48 priests, alleging abuse spanning 1938 to 1993 and mostly concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s. The agreement capped more than four years of negotiation in state and federal courts, and came after the diocese had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 27 February 2007, hours before the first of more than 140 lawsuits was due to go to trial. The diocese contributed 77.1 million dollars in cash and its insurers 75.7 million for the 111 claims against diocesan priests, the diocese paid a further 30.3 million dollars for 22 claims involving members of religious orders, and the Diocese of San Bernardino and its insurers contributed 15.1 million dollars for 11 claims. At the time it was the second largest settlement by a US Catholic diocese, behind only the Archdiocese of Los Angeles's 660 million dollar settlement reached two months earlier.
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Accused Documented Victim Estimate Key FindingUnlike Milwaukee's and Wilmington's settlements, which were confirmed as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan, San Diego's Chapter 11 case was voluntarily dismissed once the settlement was reached directly in the underlying state and federal litigation, making a confirmed plan unnecessary. The diocese also agreed to release personnel files on the accused; a retired San Diego Superior Court judge later ordered roughly 10,000 pages of those files, covering 48 priests, opened to the public in October 2010. 1 Inquiry Profile
Kind of Record JurisdictionCalifornia, United States (state and federal courts; U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, Judge Louise DeCarl Adler) 2 Publication Year Period Covered, From Cross-Tradition Connections
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