One of two plaintiffs in archdiocese abuse case settles

SEATTLE – One of two men suing the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese over sexual abuse by a priest has agreed to a mid-trial settlement.

The other plaintiff continued to press his claims in King County Superior Court and is unlikely to settle in the first sexual abuse case against the archdiocese to go to trial, one of his lawyers, Timothy D. Kosnoff, told reporters Monday outside the courtroom.

“He wants to see this all the way through to the end … and that means a decision by the jury,” Kosnoff said.

The man who accepted the settlement, a teenager in the 1970s when he was molested repeatedly by former priest Patrick G. O’Donnell, will receive about $600,000, Kosnoff said.

Michael A. Patterson, a lawyer for the archdiocese, said the settlement was for $550,000 and did not include legal fees or expenses.

Combined with earlier settlements with the Spokane Diocese, where O’Donnell became a child abuser, and a religious order that operated the seminary where O’Donnell was trained as a priest, the man is receiving close to $1 million, Kosnoff said.