Confidential
Settlement – $1,700,000Court
San Francisco Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Alejandro N. Mayorkas
(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)
Facts
In 1968, Kenneth McDonald was an 11-year-old altar boy at Mission Delores Basilica in San Francisco and was a student at its parochial school. Father Patrick O'Shea, the priest in charge of the altar-boy program, took the altar boys on several overnight trips to Lake Barryessa in Napa between 1968 and 1970. McDonald claimed that on the first trip O'Shea told him they had to shower together because of a water shortage and that O'Shea then molested McDonald during the shower. McDonald claimed additional acts of molestation occurred on subsequent trips. McDonald enrolled in St. Joseph High School Seminary in 1970. He met with then-Monsignor (now Bishop) Francis Quinn before he enrolled. McDonald claimed that Quinn referred to him as having, "had a difficult time with Father O'Shea." McDonald interpreted this to be a reference to the molestations, as he had experienced no other difficulties with O'Shea. Quinn suggested that the seminary would be a healing process. McDonald told his faculty advisor, Father Daniel Knepper, about the abuse during the fall of 1971. Knepper assured him that O'Shea would be taken care of. McDonald claimed O'Shea came to his dormitory room in 1972 and grabbed his genitals, after which the then-15-year-old McDonald told O'Shea to leave. McDonald claimed he reported this incident to Knepper, who told him again that the situation would be taken care of. O'Shea was promoted to the position of monsignor later that year. He was suspended from ministry services in about 1994 when allegations of molestation brought by other boys led the diocese to investigate. California passed a law in 2003 allowing some victims of clerical sex abuse one year to file claims that would otherwise have been time-barred.
Injuries
Battery.
Result
The parties settled for $1.7 million. This settlement was part of a simultaneous settlement of three claims for a total payout of $4 million.
Other Information
This settlement was part of a simultaneous settlement of three claims for a total payout of $4 million.
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