Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks talks to reporters during a news conference at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
After seven years of litigation, Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York agreed on October 24th to a settlement agreement of $800 million paid out to roughly 1,300 victims of clerical sexual abuse.
Negotiations over the settlement amount have been ongoing for over a year, with some plaintiffs holding out longer than others, arguing that the amount they stood to receive did not adequately reflect the suffering they endured. After the final agreement is approved, each plaintiff may choose a lump-sum payment of $250,000 or submit their case for review for a potentially larger amount.
According to reporting done by The New York Times, one accuser, who remains anonymous, says they felt “bullied” into accepting the settlement, citing pressure from the requirement that there be no holdouts in order for the settlement to proceed.
The agreement also required the archdiocese to publicly disclose information about offenders inside the Church and to routinely update and maintain a list of offending bishops, priests, and deacons on its website.
Plaintiffs' lawyers advised their clients that if they pursued the case further, the archdiocese could file for bankruptcy, as several Catholic dioceses in New York state have done. A Chapter 11 filing by the archdiocese, which represents roughly 2.5 million Catholics in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, could lower the eventual payout to plaintiffs and further prolong litigation.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan listens to a question at a news conference at the offices of the New York Archdiocese, in New York, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York said Thursday that it has hired former federal judge Barbara Jones to review its procedures and protocols for handling allegations of sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Over the past 20 years, the Catholic Church has paid out over $5 billion - potentially $6 billion - in settlements to sexual abuse victims since 2004, according to research done by OSV News. Data for the past two years is still pending, but will inevitably include the two largest settlements in sexual abuse cases paid by the Church in its history.
Jeff Anderson is one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in this case. For four decades, his firm has represented survivors of clergy sexual abuse and child sexual abuse by priests, nuns, employees, and volunteers of the Roman Catholic Church. Through that experience, he has become well-versed in how the Church uses Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings to respond to litigation.
According to his website, more than 30 Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to “protect their assets and limit survivors’ opportunities to hold them accountable”, as well as to avoid transparency and public scrutiny. In their experience, they have yet to see a case where a diocese or religious order that filed for bankruptcy was genuinely insolvent, or could not pay its bills.
For survivors, some of whom have waited decades to bring their case to light, bankruptcy filings can further draw out often years-long litigation processes and withhold accountability from their abusers. Reagan Charleston Thomas, an attorney who represented plaintiffs in lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Lafayette, Georgia, says of Louisiana's dioceses, they “can choose accountability, or they can continue choosing delay and hope survivors run out of time before the Church runs out of maneuvers. So, the pattern speaks for itself.”