A Ramsey County jury Wednesday awarded almost $8.2 million to a survivor of clergy sex abuse in the first case to be decided by a jury under Minnesota’s Child Victims Act.
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The jury found the Diocese 60 percent at fault, while the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the religious order to which Fitzgerald belonged, was 40 percent at fault. The two are responsible for their respective portions of the settlement. The Diocese of New Ulm was also initially named, but was dismissed by the court earlier this year.
Anderson said his client’s suit and trial testimony, along with the jury’s verdict, send a message of hope and healing to all adult survivors of sexual abuse.
“I’d say it has huge impact statewide… that all institutions have to take this extremely serious for the safety of all kids”, Finnegan said. Mike Finnegan, an attorney for the plaintiff, said he believes it was the first in Minnesota in more than 20 years.
“Being able to stand up for himself, to stand up to the diocese and make sure this information is made public, he got a real sense of empowerment through that process”, Finnegan said. “It really has important, far-reaching implication …”
Doe 30, now 52, sued the diocese in Ramsey County District Court, alleging that it failed to protect him, that it failed to supervise Fitzgerald and that it should have known the priest was unsafe. Fitzgerald was a priest with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
The case involved Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald, who was accused of sexually abusing William Weis in 1978 at St. Catherine’s Church in Squaw Lake, Minnesota, a parish in the Diocese of Duluth, according to Jeff Anderson, an attorney for Weis.
The priest then brought him to St. Catherine’s Church, where Weis says he was sexually abused over a two week period.
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It’s rare for a clergy sexual abuse case to actually reach a jury verdict.
