Clergy abuse survivors angered by delays in settlement with Diocese of Rockville Centre

Further delays in an announced “final settlement” with the Diocese of Rockville Centre are angering some clergy sex abuse survivors and their lawyers, who wondered Thursday if the deal is really done after four years of negotiations.

Some of their attorneys noted that other Catholic dioceses in New York and New Jersey have also declared final settlements, only to see them drag on for months. Rockville Centre and lawyers for the survivors announced in federal bankruptcy court on Wednesday they had agreed to a settlement, though one insurance company is still holding up the process.

“We’re not at the finish line yet,” said Jordan Merson, a Manhattan-based attorney representing some of the survivors on Long Island. The survivors “keep getting their emotions toyed with. Enough is enough.”

He added that “the time has come for the insurers to do the right thing and compensate these child sexual abuse survivors.”

Richard Tollner, who heads the survivors’ committee in the bankruptcy proceedings, said, “This case has gone on longer than the Biden administration.”

But Tollner and others also said they were encouraged that a settlement may be near. Attorneys for the diocese and the survivors did not disclose details of the agreement in court.

“We are satisfied enough with what is transpiring” in the negotiations, Tollner said. “We are satisfied with what we are left with. We obviously wanted more.”

The diocese has previously offered the more than 500 clergy sex abuse survivors a total of $200 million, an offer the survivors overwhelmingly rejected in April. Lawyers for the survivors have proposed a $450 million settlement — a figure the diocese says would leave it in financial ruin and unable to carry out its work.

Brian Toale, another survivor, referring to the agreed-upon settlement, said, “I just imagine it’s somewhere between those two numbers.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said of the announced final settlement. “But I’m also hopeful.”

While he is partly glad a settlement may be coming, he also would have liked to see the cases go to civil court, where details of the alleged church cover-up would be exposed.

“I kind of miss the fact that there isn’t going to be a factual accounting, who knew what when, who covered up what when,” he said. “But there is definitely a part of me that knows that would be rough to go through for many people.”

The diocese declared bankruptcy on Oct. 1, 2020, saying potential payouts from the New York State Child Victims Act could leave it in financial collapse. The new law allowed child victims of sex abuse to sue their alleged perpetrators in civil court regardless of how long ago the abuse happened.

Hundreds of cases filed against the diocese were transferred to U.S. Bankruptcy Court to reach a global settlement.

Corinne Ball, the lead attorney representing the diocese, and James Stang, the main attorney representing the survivors, told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn on Wednesday they had essentially reached a deal.

The one holdup is that one of the insurance companies involved, Interstate, has not provided its final offer, the attorneys said. An irritated Glenn ordered top executives of Interstate to appear in person in New York next week to finalize the settlement. A lawyer for Interstate said in court it was doing all it could to finish the process.

Stang said Thursday he is hopeful the settlement will be signed off on soon. “I think you saw something play out yesterday [in court] that was rather extraordinary,” he said.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing survivors, said another option is for the parties to sign off on a final settlement excluding Interstate and deal with the insurer later.

“I am hopeful that one way or the other, we are up against the clock now, and by next week we will have one of those two deals done,” he said.

“There is nothing to celebrate here,” he added. The settlement “should have been done 2½ years ago.”

Other dioceses have seen delays after announcing final settlements. The Camden, New Jersey, diocese announced a settlement in April 2022, but it is still resolving issues with insurance companies. The Rochester diocese upstate announced a settlement in March 2023, but some issues with an insurer are still playing out in court. It declared bankruptcy in 2019.