Verdicts & Settlements for Victims of Sexual Abuse

$12 million for 24 Haitian boys | On-going

In July 2013, Simmons Hanly Conroy and co-counsel negotiated a landmark $12 million settlement of a sex abuse case against the Catholic Church. The settlement involved 24 consolidated sex abuse cases – originally brought in 2011 in federal court in Connecticut – alleging negligent supervision of convicted pedophile Douglas Perlitz.

The $12 million settlement resulted in a per-victim payment of $500,000 gross and attorneys’ fees of $3.6 million. Payment of the $12 million was made at the end of June 2013.

The settlement was paid by defendants the Society of Jesus of New England, Fairfield University, the Order of Malta, Hope Carter and Father Paul Carrier. The lawsuits accused the defendants of not properly supervising the activities of Perlitz in his running of a school for underprivileged boys in Cap Haitien, Haiti, from the late 1990s until around 2010, during which time Perlitz raped and otherwise sexually abused dozens of victims.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys negotiated the settlement following the April 2013 decision of U.S. District Judge for the District of Connecticut Robert N. Chatigny that denied the motions to dismiss the defendants. Partners Paul J. Hanly, Jr., and Jayne Conroy worked with Boston lead counsel Mitchell Garabedian and Bill Gordon, together with Connecticut counsel Steven Errante and Marisa Belair.

The firm continues its work to secure justice for victims of Catholic Sex Abuse.

Joseph Jean-Charles v. Douglas Perlitz et al., 3:11-CV-00614-RNC (D. Conn. 2013)