Victims of sexual abuse at the hands of southeast Minnesota Catholic clergy and staff will receive $30 million under a recent settlement.
Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm representing more than 145 sexual abuse victims who filed claims against the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, recently announced it had reached a $30 million settlement with the diocese’s largest insurer, U.S. Fire Insurance Company.
The diocese declared bankruptcy in 2018 following the string of lawsuits connected to the abuse.
The first settlement in the case, which dates back decades, came in 2021 and amounted to $28 million. But that first settlement did not include U.S. Fire, Jeff Anderson & Associates noted in the announcement.
The recent settlement comes after three victims obtained jury verdicts against the diocese in court. The victims all experienced abuse as teenagers in the 1970s, including two by Fr. Joseph Cashman at Lourdes High School in Rochester, and one by church volunteer Eugene Hubert at St. Mary’s Parish and School in Winona.
Another lawsuit, which sought $28 million from U.S. Fire on behalf of nine victims was set to go to trial on Sep. 28. The recent settlement now concludes U.S.’s Fire’s obligations in the case.
“This settlement forges a new path forward to combat insurers’ denials and delays across the country,” attorney Jeff Anderson said in a statement.
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