{"id":1946,"date":"2007-10-08T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-08T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/10\/the-diocese-of-orange-county-settles-and-the-victims-step-forward.html"},"modified":"2007-10-08T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-08T22:30:00","slug":"the-diocese-of-orange-county-settles-and-the-victims-step-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/10\/the-diocese-of-orange-county-settles-and-the-victims-step-forward.html","title":{"rendered":"The Diocese of Orange County settles, and the victims step forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days after the Diocese of Orange County, California announced a multi-million dollar settlement to four female sex abuse victims, three of the four came forward to reveal their identities. <\/p>\n

Here’s the latest from the Orange County Register<\/a>: <\/p>\n

<\/a>Three women who settled their sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for millions of dollars last week stood up before a bank of television cameras this morning and asked other molestation victims to come forward.<\/p>\n

The three women said they decided individually to go public with their names and faces in the hope that others could use their experiences to develop the strength to seek justice. Another woman who settled out of court asked to remain as a Jane Doe.<\/p>\n

The four women settled for a total of $6.7 million \u2013 individual payouts ranging from $1.1 to $3.2 million — on Friday to settle their claims against the Diocese.<\/p>\n

“This is a little bit overwhelming,” Christina Ruiz, 27, whose lawsuit against the Diocese was scheduled to go to trial this week.<\/p>\n

She was the former student at Mater Dei High School who was described in newspaper accounts as Jane C.R. Doe in her lawsuit that accused former Mater Dei assistant basketball coach Jeff Andrade of molesting her for more than a year, starting when she was 15. Andrade has admitted to having sex with the woman when she was a teenager, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Ruiz said she was re-victimized by lawyers for the Catholic Church who sought details of her sex life through several days of depositions as they prepared the case for trial.<\/p>\n

“They still haven’t apologized to me,” Ruiz said. “I’m angry.”<\/p>\n

She said she decided to allow her name to be used earlier today as she gathered with the other women for an 11 a.m. press conference at the Newport Beach Office pf John C. Manly, one of their attorneys.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saturday’s Los Angeles Times<\/a> had more details of the case, and the settlement: <\/p>\n

At $1.7 million, the average payout to the alleged victims — all women — is significantly higher than the average $1.1 million paid to scores of plaintiffs in an earlier settlement by the Orange diocese and $1.3 million paid to Los Angeles plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs in the recent cases were students at the time of the alleged abuses between 1990 and 1999 by two Mater Dei faculty members, a Santa Margarita Catholic High School teacher and a choir director who worked at St. Timothy’s and St. Edward’s parishes.<\/p>\n

[snip]<\/p>\n

Ryan DiMaria, an attorney for the accusers, said the settlement was fair and the deals “made the best out of a bad situation.”<\/p>\n

“I’m very happy for the four girls that, to some extent, justice was able to be done,” he said. “But nothing will give them back their childhood.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Photo: Christina Ruiz at press conference, by Ana Venegas, from the OC Register<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days after the Diocese of Orange County, California announced a multi-million dollar settlement to four female sex abuse victims, three of the four came forward to reveal their identities. Here’s the latest from the Orange County Register: Three women who settled their sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for millions of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Diocese of Orange County settles, and the victims step forward - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/10\/the-diocese-of-orange-county-settles-and-the-victims-step-forward.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Diocese of Orange County settles, and the victims step forward - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Days after the Diocese of Orange County, California announced a multi-million dollar settlement to four female sex abuse victims, three of the four came forward to reveal their identities. 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