Priest sex abuse lawsuits against Catholic dioceses in the United States have produced more than $5 billion in payouts since 2004 and remain active in 2026, with survivors pursuing claims through three main routes: direct settlements, diocesan bankruptcies, and voluntary compensation programs. Which route is available depends largely on the state where the abuse occurred and whether the diocese responsible has filed for Chapter 11.
How Large the Payouts Have Become
Between 2004 and 2023, U.S. Catholic dioceses, eparchies, and men’s religious communities spent more than $5 billion on allegations of sexual abuse of minors, according to a report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. About 75% of that total went directly to victims. Insurance covered only about 16% of the costs on average, leaving dioceses to fund most of the payouts themselves. Over the same period, 16,276 credible allegations were reported against priests, deacons, or religious brothers.
The single largest settlement to date came in October 2024, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 survivors. That deal pushed the archdiocese’s cumulative payouts past $1.5 billion, on top of earlier settlements totaling $740 million. The money came from investments, reserves, bank financing, and contributions from religious orders named in the suits.
Major Lawsuits and Settlements in 2026
Archdiocese of New York
In May 2026, the Archdiocese of New York proposed an $800 million settlement to resolve roughly 1,300 claims filed under New York’s Child Victims Act. Each plaintiff can take a lump sum of $250,000 or go before an arbitrator for a potentially higher amount. The money would flow into a survivors’ trust, with $615 million paid up front and $185 million following within about 15 months.
The deal has one critical condition: all 1,300 plaintiffs must agree. Attorneys for survivors have urged acceptance, warning that holdouts would likely force the archdiocese into Chapter 11. The archdiocese would also be required to publish and maintain a public list of credibly accused clergy.
Running alongside the settlement is a dispute with Chubb Insurance, which the archdiocese says improperly denied coverage. In April 2026, a court-appointed referee rejected Chubb’s attempt to block the deposition of CEO Evan Greenberg, finding he may have relevant information about the insurer’s decision-making. Chubb has argued that abuse claims do not trigger coverage because they involved intentional acts rather than accidents. The insurer faces $859 million in molestation coverage claims from the archdiocese.
Diocese of Brooklyn
In February 2026, the Diocese of Brooklyn agreed to enter mediation with more than 1,000 individuals alleging childhood abuse by priests or church staff. Bishop Robert Brennan said the diocese would set aside a fund worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” financed mainly through real estate sales rather than parish donations. Retired California judge Daniel J. Buckley and Boston attorney Paul A. Finn were appointed as mediators. Since 2017, the diocese had already paid over $100 million to more than 500 survivors through its own compensation program and resolved roughly 100 further cases separately.
Archdiocese of Baltimore
The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Chapter 11 case, nearing its three-year mark as of June 2026, remains contested. The archdiocese has offered $43.9 million in unrestricted assets, insurers have committed $185 million, and affiliated parishes and schools are projected to add $17.1 million, for a total of about $246 million. Survivors have demanded more than $441 million. A confirmation trial is set for September 2026, and the bankruptcy judge has mandated weekly settlement hearings.
Diocese of Oakland
The Diocese of Oakland filed for Chapter 11 in May 2023 after California opened a filing window for previously time-barred claims under AB 218. As of early 2026, the diocese and a related corporation have offered $200 million for a survivors’ trust, with insurers adding over $42.5 million. Survivors are demanding $314.1 million, leaving the two sides at least $90 million apart.
In April 2026, a jury in one of six “bellwether” cases allowed to proceed during the bankruptcy awarded $16 million to a man abused as a 10-year-old altar boy by Rev. Stephen Kiesle, a priest previously convicted of lewd conduct. The verdict is expected to influence negotiations on more than 350 remaining claims.
Which State You File In Changes Everything
Most of the current wave of litigation exists because state legislatures opened “lookback windows” letting survivors file claims regardless of when the abuse occurred.
New York’s Child Victims Act, passed in 2019, eliminated the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse and created a temporary revival window for older cases. By the time filing closed in 2021, 10,783 lawsuits involving 14,588 plaintiffs had been filed statewide. Thousands still lack trial dates in 2026, held up by a shortage of judges and complex insurance disputes.
California passed a similar law in 2019, triggering the Los Angeles settlement. Maryland’s Child Victims Act of 2023, enacted after a state investigation documented abuse of over 600 children by more than 150 priests, ended the statute of limitations entirely. The Maryland Supreme Court upheld the law in a 4-3 ruling in 2026. The Archdiocese of Baltimore had filed for bankruptcy shortly before the law took effect.
Not every state has followed. High courts in Utah, Kentucky, Colorado, Maine, and New Hampshire have struck down retroactive revival of expired claims, finding that defendants hold a “vested right” once a limitations period runs out. Courts in Georgia, Vermont, Louisiana, and North Carolina have ruled the other way. State supreme courts are roughly evenly split on the question. Nationally, 44 states have abolished the criminal statute of limitations for child sex abuse, and 20 have eliminated civil time limits for some or all such claims.
Lawsuit, Bankruptcy, or Compensation Program
How a survivor’s claim gets resolved depends largely on which of three paths is open.
Individual Lawsuit
Where state law allows it and the diocese has not filed for bankruptcy, survivors can sue in civil court and seek a jury verdict. Awards can be large, as the $16 million Oakland bellwether showed, but trials are public, slow, and uncertain.
Bankruptcy
At least 40 Catholic dioceses and religious organizations have sought Chapter 11 protection, most citing abuse claim costs as the driver. Recent filings include the Diocese of El Paso, which became the first Texas diocese to file in March 2026 after lawsuits from 18 plaintiffs; a federal judge set a September 2026 deadline for additional claims. The Diocese of Buffalo’s case has stretched into its sixth year.
Filing triggers an automatic stay that pauses all civil lawsuits. Claims are then resolved through a centralized process in bankruptcy court. Survivors do not have to testify publicly, but they also lose the chance at a jury verdict. Dioceses typically propose settlement trusts funded by a mix of their own assets and insurance payouts.
Survivor advocates argue the process functions as a delay tactic, consuming years and significant funds in legal fees. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has said bankruptcy proceedings “severely limit survivors’ ability to seek reparations.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys have noted that dioceses sometimes shield assets by transferring property to parishes or trusts before filing; one analysis estimated roughly $2 billion has been sheltered this way.
Recent completed bankruptcies show the range of outcomes. The Diocese of Syracuse closed its case in February 2026 with a $176 million victims’ trust. The Diocese of Camden finalized a $180 million settlement around the same time. The Archdiocese of New Orleans emerged with a court-approved deal requiring at least $230 million for hundreds of survivors.
Independent Compensation Program
Many dioceses have set up Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programs as voluntary alternatives to lawsuits. These are typically run by third-party administrators and funded through asset sales, insurance reserves, and cost-cutting rather than parish donations. The Diocese of Pittsburgh’s program, administered by Kenneth Feinberg’s firm from 2019 to 2020, distributed $19.2 million to 224 survivors out of 369 applicants. The Archdiocese of New York’s earlier program, also managed by Feinberg, paid $65 million to 323 survivors between 2016 and 2019.
The trade-off is significant. Accepting a payout requires signing a legal release that typically bars any future civil lawsuit over the same abuse. Critics say the programs limit transparency, since they do not force disclosure of the full scope of abuse, and may pay far less than a jury would. Attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented thousands of survivors, has characterized the programs as mechanisms that “protect predators and the guilty institutions who have covered-up abuse.” For survivors in states with open filing windows, the choice between a program and a lawsuit is often difficult.
The Institutional Pattern Behind the Claims
A recurring allegation across decades of litigation is that Church leaders moved accused priests to new assignments rather than removing them or alerting law enforcement. Eight lawsuits filed in southern New Mexico in July 2025 against the dioceses of Las Cruces and El Paso allege that priests sent to the Servants of the Paraclete treatment facility in Jemez Springs for pedophilic tendencies were returned to parish ministry without disclosure of their histories. One accused priest, Bernard Bissonnette, was described in the lawsuits as a “notorious serial offender” accused of abusing over 30 boys yet placed at St. Eleanor Parish in Ruidoso despite the diocese allegedly knowing of his conduct.
The Servants of the Paraclete facility, opened in 1947, originally treated priests for alcoholism and emotional difficulties but became a destination for clergy with histories of abuse. For nearly 50 years it processed hundreds of priests. A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report concluded that facilities like it “provided plausible deniability to the bishops and permitted hundreds of known offenders to return to ministry.” Internal records from a 1967 meeting in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe showed a policy of placing treated priests in parishes without disclosing their full clinical histories.
For a current claim, this history matters because proof that a diocese knew about a priest’s prior conduct and reassigned him anyway strengthens the case for institutional liability, often the deepest pocket in any lawsuit.