Mass of the Installation of Archbishop-designate Ronald A. Hicks at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. The Archdiocese of New York and plaintiffs’ lawyers were closing in on a settlement on Friday in which the church would pay more than $800 million to settle claims from 1,300 people who said they had been sexually abused by its clergy members and lay leaders. (Hiroko Masuike/the New York Times)
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The Archdiocese of New York and plaintiffs’ lawyers reached an agreement on a proposed settlement in which the church would pay more than $800 million to settle claims from 1,300 people who said they had been sexually abused by its clergy members and lay leaders.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said late Friday that they had finalized the settlement with the archdiocese and that all of the plaintiffs had signed off on it.
In an email to the priests of the archdiocese shared with The New York Times, Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks confirmed Saturday that an agreement had been reached to settle the claims. He said the deal will not be final until the plaintiffs, lawyers and representatives for the archdiocese sign the settlement, which they are scheduled to do next month.
“We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” he said in the message.
Terms of the settlement would call for each plaintiff to have the option of receiving a lump-sum payment of at least $250,000, or a potentially larger payout after a review of the extent of the abuse each plaintiff has claimed, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
The proposal would end a multiyear saga that threatened to bankrupt the United States’ foremost Roman Catholic archdiocese. Litigation after the New York Child Victims Act opened the window for claims has been ongoing for seven years, said Jeff Anderson, whose firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, represents nearly 300 clients who say they were abused.
Intense negotiations about the specific terms of the settlement have gone on for almost a year. The terms of the proposed settlement required that all 1,300 plaintiffs accept it, and there were some holdouts, extending the timeline for the settlement as lawyers and archdiocese representatives worked to convince them that the proposal was the best deal they could get.
“The survivors showed an amazing amount of perseverance and patience here,” said Paul Mones, whose Los Angeles-based firm represents 33 of the plaintiffs. “After a lifetime of pain and struggle, they mustered the energy to push that final mile. And hopefully this deal will give them a degree of solace and healing.”
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Maya King and Jeffery C. Mays/Hiroko Masuike
c. 2026 The New York Times Company
