In the past few years, more and more victims of clergy abuse have come forward to admit that they were sexually assaulted by the authorities within the Catholic church. Oftentimes these victims kept the abuse a secret for year because they didn't want to expose an embarrassing area of their life. Also, many of the victims were intimidated to bring up the abuse because they would be declaring that the authorities over them in their religion were acting out of line. This may have come off as self-righteous, or some believed that they wouldn't be trusted and that their claims, however true, would be dismissed. Yet a rush of victims admitting to their crime led to an overwhelming amount of lawsuits against archdioceses all throughout the United States.

Four men in California that were victims of the clerical abuse finally settled their lawsuits against a former priest in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. In total, the settlement for the four men reaches about $10 million. Cardinal Roger Mahony was the priest who was accused of all of the abuses. He is no longer in the clergy. He allegedly abused boys back in the 1970's mostly during overnight trips to San Diego and Riverside. The priest eventually pleaded guilty to his crimes in a criminal trial. He was released from jail in 2011 after four years of incarceration with credit for time served. The four civil lawsuits were filed later on by the people who had been victim to the priests antics.

If you were abused by a Catholic priest, then you may want to seek compensation in a civil suit as well. You may be able to obtain millions to compensate you for the tragic and shocking experience that you had to deal with and have had to carry with you through life. These lawsuits typically award based on emotional damages, and in most states there is not a cap on how much a victim can obtain. If you want more information about this, then you need to talk to a lawyer at the Law Offices of Freeman & Freeman today for more information.