A New London
woman who says she was molested as a child by a now-deceased priest
will receive $1.1 million as part of the settlement of her lawsuit with
the Norwich Diocese.The woman, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, alleged she was abused by Father Thomas Shea in 1976 when he was pastor at St. Joseph's Church in New London.
She alleged that diocese officials, including former Bishop Daniel Patrick Reilly, knew Shea had a history of abuse allegations and moved him from parish to parish.
The settlement was reached Thursday just before the trial was set to start in Hartford Superior Court. Reilly was in court Thursday morning preparing to testify as the first witness in what was supposed to be at least a two-week trial when word started filtering out of Judge Carl Schuman's chambers that a settlement was afoot.
Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg, on his last day as a judge before retiring, met with attorneys from both sides to iron out the last-minute deal. Holzberg is retiring after 22 years on the bench.
Holzberg has gained a reputation as a master mediator after presiding over the settlements of two massive civil cases – the claims from the Kleen Energy power plant explosion and the claims against St. Francis Hospital for sexual abuse allegations against former endocrinologist George Reardon.
Shea is suspected of abusing as many as 15 girls in 11 different parishes from 1953 through the 1970s. He died in 2006.
Reilly was the bishop during that time. New London attorney Robert Reardon was planning to introduce hundreds of church documents that showed Reilly and others knew Shea had been accused of abusing girls yet installed him in a parish that had a girls' school.
The diocese had sought a delay in the case, citing among other reasons the $60 million fine levied against Penn State by the NCAA following the conviction on sexual abuse charges of former coach Jerry Sandusky.
The diocese attorneys argued the large fine could desensitize jurors in this case or affect potential damages but Judge Marshall Berger ruled that the Penn State case had no bearing on this case.
In court papers Reardon has said his client was seeking slightly more than $1.1 million, including $515,000 in mental health expenses from 2004-2012; $216,000 in lost wages after she left her job as a blackjack dealer at the Mohegan Sun in 2003; and more than $400,000 in potential future wages.
Norwich Bishop Michael Cote was expected to testify about his attempt to have Shea laicized by the Vatican through a letter he wrote to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
In the 2005 letter, Cote wrote that the "trail of destruction caused by Thomas W. Shea is staggering."
He wrote that there were at least 15 credible cases of abuse by Shea of girls under the age of 18, including one girl who tried to kill herself three times before she turned 23.
"The people who have been directly affected by his behavior as well as the entire People of God would welcome his involuntary dismissal from the clerical state," Cote wrote.
The Vatican denied Cote's request about a month later in a letter that stated that the charge "involves incidents which, while serious in nature, occurred over 35 years ago."
Ratzinger was elected pope days after receiving Cote's letter.
It is unclear if he had any involvement in the Vatican's response.