Clergy abuse occurs when a member of the clergy such as a priest, minister, seminarian or other religious person takes advantage of his position of influence and respect to commit a sexual crime. Church organizations, such as Catholic Dioceses, have concealed incidents of sexual abuse and moved pedophile priests from parish to parish in the past. Only recently have these organizations come forward to recognize and resolve their past cover-ups and to try to heal the damage caused to children and their parents.

We have actively pursued sexual abuse cases and have achieved the following results:

$17,000,000 settlement after three weeks of trial in Oakland, CA.  On November 24, 2003, we concluded what was then the largest California court settlement for a single victim of sexual molestation by a Catholic priest.  Our client was a 15-year-old altar boy in 1979 and 1980 when he was sexually molested by his pastor.  Evidence was introduced at trial showing multiple molestations by several priests of the Oakland Diocese, and the pastor admitted to molesting our client during this own testimony in the case.