Sage Datko  |  July 23, 2019

Category: Legal News

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Praying hands of young personNew Jersey victims of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy members may have a tough choice to make. Due to the recent flood of accusations against Catholic priests, bishops, nuns, and other clergy members, the five New Jersey dioceses have established victims compensation programs to financially compensate victims with credible claims of abuse.

However, in order to qualify for a payout from a Catholic Church compensation program, victims must agree not to sue the church or accused clergy members.

While New Jersey has recently approved a law extending the statute of limitations for childhood abuse victims, the new law will not go into effect until December 2020, and does not guarantee that victims who lodge accusations against the church will win their cases.

Victims of childhood abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy members may be able to seek accountability and transparency, or compensation, but many will be unable to receive both.

New Jersey Catholic Church Compensation Program Information

The New Jersey Compensation Fund for Victims of Church Sexual Abuse of Minors began accepting claims from alleged victims on June 15, 2019. Catholic church victim compensation programs are funds run by third-party administrators not affiliated with the church.

According to NorthJersey.com, the New Jersey victim compensation program was established prior to the passage of a new bill allowing victims to sue the Church over their alleged abuses, and may be an attempt by the church to persuade victims to take a quick settlement offer rather than pursuing a lengthy legal trial.

The Catholic Church has reason to worry about the new law. After California became the first state to temporarily lift the statute of limitations in the early 2000s, giving victims whose childhood sexual abuse cases had expired a one year window to file lawsuits against their abusers, hundreds of people filed lawsuits against their dioceses.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled claims from more than 500 plaintiffs for $660 million. The Diocese of San Diego went bankrupt due to the more than 140 lawsuits filed against the organization, and the resulting $198 million settlement.

These sexual abuse allegations and potential lawsuits may have serious financial consequences for the Catholic Church. Jury awards and settlements could potentially cost the church millions. Due to this possibility, for years the church has fought against lawmakers proposing extensions to their states’ statutes of limitations regarding childhood sexual assault.

Additionally, according to mycentraljersey.com, dioceses in at least six states have introduced victim compensation programs in an attempt to provide victims with another avenue to pursue justice, and to protect themselves.

How Do Victim Compensation Programs Work?

The Catholic Church compensation program for the Archdiocese of New York was opened in 2016 and was the first diocese-established victim fund. The way that this fund and others like it work is through mediators.

Victims tell their stories to the third-party mediators in a variety of ways, sometimes in person, via phone or video calls, or through their lawyers. Church officials are not present at these meetings, and are not involved in the decisions regarding whether the accusation is credible.

The third party attempts to corroborate the victim’s story by looking for police reports or other accusations against the same clergy member. If the report of abuse is found to be credible, the mediator will propose a settlement offer to the victim in exchange for their agreement not to pursue legal action against the diocese or Catholic Church.

These settlement offers depend on several factors, including the age of the victim at the time of the abuse, and the type of abuse. Some settlement offers may be as high as $500,000, although most are lower. In the 324 cases that have already been closed by the New York Archdiocese victim fund, over $65 million has been distributed, averaging $200,000 per victim.

Although these programs offer a faster resolution than traditional jury trials, the settlements from them are much lower than the amounts victims potentially could have been awarded in court.

While the Catholic Church claims that these funds are a way to compensate and make amends to victims, these funds may also pressure victims into taking settlement offers rather than reliving their trauma through a court trial.

As victims who take settlement offers from the funds are banned from pursuing future action against the church, these funds may do more harm than good for victims seeking accountability and change.

Although many victims have taken the settlement amounts offered by their diocese’ Catholic Church compensation program, for other victims the money simply isn’t enough. Many victims want access to church records and documents that may contain information regarding what church officials knew about their abuse.

In some cases, alleged victims claim that church officials covered up knowledge of their abuses for years. For these victims, going to court is worth the trauma of recounting their experiences to a jury, and the risk of losing their case. Victims who win court cases regarding the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal may be able to make internal church documents regarding abuse cover ups accessible to the public.

According to professor Marci Hamilton from the University of Pennsylvania, these victim compensation funds are intended to protect the Catholic Church. Hamilton, who has worked on clergy abuse cases, stated, accordnig to the Wall Street Journal, “It lets them have the dual action of looking generous but protecting as many assets of the organization as possible.”

New Jersey Sexual Abuse Laws

New Jersey is about to join more than a dozen other states that are either considering changing their statutes of limitation regarding childhood sexual abuse, or have already done so. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the new law extending the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse victims in May, giving victims whose cases had previously expired under the old laws hope for future compensation and closure.

The law, which will go into effect on Dec. 1, 2019, will allow victims to file lawsuits against their abusers until the age of 55, or within a seven year window of when the victim realized that their abuse had harmed them. Additionally, for victims whose cases have already expired, a two year window beginning on Dec. 1, 2019 will be opened for victims to sue their abusers and the institutions that employed or protected them.

Victim Stories

One victim who claims he was sexually abused by a priest from his local parish 4 decades ago has been struggling to decide which path to take. As his case involves abuse from 40 years ago, it has passed the statute of limitations for Pennsylvania, where it occurred, and is too old to bring to court.

Although lawmakers in his state have proposed extending the statute of limitations for cases like his, the new laws will not go into effect until at least December 2019. In the meantime, despite his wish to sue the Diocese of Scranton that allowed the abuse to occur, he is unable to do so.

His other option would be to file a claim with the diocese’ Catholic Church compensation program in the hopes of receiving financial reparations for his experiences. However, this course of action comes with a catch. Victims who accept money from compensation programs must agree not to file legal or civil charges against the Catholic Church, the individual diocese, or the clergy member responsible.

Additionally, in his case, the church would also be exempt from releasing documents that may indicate how much knowledge church officials had about the alleged sexual abuse.

Victims may have to decide whether compensation or accountability is more important to them personally and choose which path to take. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Scranton bishop, Joseph C. Bambera stated, “While no financial compensation can change the past, it is my hope that this program will help survivors in their healing and recovery process.”

According to another victim who claims that when he was a teenage seminary student, his parish priest abused him, the Catholic Church keeps secret files detailing abuse at the hands of priests. According to him, the culture of the church promotes predatory child abuse, and it is long past time for the extent of these crimes to be revealed.

NorthJersey.com, the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law does require every diocese to maintain a secret archive. This archive must be locked, with the only key owned by the bishop, and is for storing the “most carefully guarded” documents.

Victims believe that these diocese archives may contain priest personnel files, documents detailing abuses, and documents proving that church officials have known about and covered up abuses. While some dioceses have voluntarily handed over these files or been subpoenaed to do so, other dioceses are holding on tightly to these potentially incendiary documents.

Who Qualifies to File a Claim Through a Catholic Church Compensation Program?

Many types of victims may qualify to pursue compensation through a Catholic Church victim fund. Victims who were abused as children or young adults by Catholic priests, deacons, seminarians, school employees, or church leaders may qualify, as well as those abused by Jesuit priests or Benedictine monks.

The New Jersey Compensation Fund for Victims of Church Sexual Abuse of Minors qualifies victims of abuse from clergy at any of New Jersey’s dioceses to apply. The five New Jersey dioceses are the Archdiocese of Newark, the Diocese of Metuchen, the Diocese of Trenton, the Diocese of Camden, and the Diocese of Paterson.

If you or a loved one was sexually abused by a Catholic priest or clergy in any of the five Catholic dioceses in New Jersey, you may be entitled to compensation. Learn more by filling out the form on this page for a FREE case evaluation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.

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