Chicago Archdiocese to Pay $4.45M to Settle Priest Abuse Suits
The Archdiocese of Chicago reached an agreement to pay $4.45 million to settle three lawsuits brought by three men who allege they were victims of clerical abuse more than a decade ago. The abuse was allegedly committed by convicted sex offender Rev. Daniel McCormack.
Two of the accusers who are brothers have reached settlements worth $2.15 million with the diocese in late January. They accused McCormack of abusing them more than once during an after-school program at Our Lady of the Westside Catholic School in the mid-2000s, Chicago Tribune reported.
The other man, who was a basketball player on a team McCormack coached for the school, reached his $2.3 million settlement on April 20. He was abused twice by the priest of St. Agatha's Parish in Lawndale on the West Side. McCormack was permanently removed from the priesthood after pleading guilty in 2007 of inappropriately touching five other boys aged 8 to 12.
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The Illinois attorney general and the Cook County state's attorney petitioned the court to have McCormack committed under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act when he came up for parole in 2010. He remained in a state mental health facility as the proceedings continued.
"They were kids in Lawndale whose parents didn't necessarily have the best day care options," said McCormack's lawyer Lyndsay Markley. "It's one of our most vulnerable communities, and we focus on the gun violence, but there are other ways that these young African-American men are violated."
After failing to finish college and losing a job, the accuser, now 24, decided to seek financial compensation. Markley said the settlement "allows him to receive whatever care, treatment or comfort is necessary for him to live the best life possible and move forward from this terrible tragedy."
The Chicago Archdiocese was compelled to settle for compensation after Cook County Circuit Judge Clare McWilliams ruled that it can be punished for its "utter disregard" for McCormack's actions. The archdiocese was forced to sell some of its properties to cover the settlement even as other similar cases remain pending.
