US: The Catholic Church has tentatively agreed to pay almost $30 million to 25 people who say they were molested by Franciscan friars in the archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The deal marks the first settlement involving the archdiocese since the sex abuse scandal was made public four years ago.
It comes as lawyers were preparing to try the first cases against the Franciscan Friars of California and the Los Angeles archdiocese for failing to protect children from predatory priests.
The archdiocese, expected to contribute less than $2 million, is still working with insurers to come up with its share of the settlement. The settlement represents a small fraction of the claims filed against the archdiocese since 2002, when a state law allowed alleged victims to sue for sexual abuse alleged to have taken place decades ago.
Plaintiffs lawyers have estimated that these cases could cost the archdiocese and its insurers as much as $1 billion to resolve.
The Rev Melvin A Jurisich, provincial minister of the Franciscan Friars, in Santa Barbara, said his order was trying to do the right thing. "It's not over for the victims. It's not over for us," he said. "All we can hope for is that healing can begin."
Under the agreement, 22 alleged victims will be paid $1.275 million each, lawyers said, making it among the largest per capita settlement against the Catholic Church in California.
The remaining three alleged victims will receive about $100,000 each, lawyers said.
Attorneys for all sides are closely monitoring the settlement amounts, because they could set a benchmark in the remaining cases against the Los Angeles and other dioceses in southern California.
The Franciscans agreed to let a judge review for possible public dissemination hundreds of pages of internal church documents as well as depositions in the current litigation, attorneys said. These are expected to show how the order handled sexual abuse allegations among its clerics.