Attorneys Darrell Cochran and Patrick Brown recently settled a sex abuse lawsuit against the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese for $725,000. PCVA represented a woman who was abused by an employee of the Catholic school more than 40 years ago. The plaintiff was only 8 years old at the time of the abuse.
“For years, she has tried to compartmentalize this, hoping it would go away,” Darrell told the Seattle Times. “But she realized no matter what she attained in her life, it was always there.”
The employee, who worked at the archdiocese’s private St. Louise Parish School, began sexually grooming the plaintiff by giving her candy, which led to multiple incidents of abuse. These incidents, which have had a lasting impact on the woman’s life, were foreseeable and preventable had the Seattle Archdiocese acted on the grooming behavior of the abuser and removed him for his repeated sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Washington for King County.
Media coverage about the settlement:
Seattle Times, “Seattle archdiocese settles woman’s sexual abuse lawsuit for $725,000”
Washington Post, “Seattle Catholic archdiocese settles sexual abuse claim”