Archdiocese of New York reaches $800 million abuse settlement

The Archdiocese of New York has reached an $800 million settlement to resolve some 1,300 abuse claims brought under lookback laws in that state and involving clergy and staff.

The deal, slated to be inked within the coming days, was confirmed by plaintiffs' attorneys in an email sent on the evening of Oct. 23 to clients, according to The New York Times.

The funds will conclude "all outstanding claims brought against the Archdiocese of New York, our parishes, and affiliated agencies," said Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks in an Oct. 24 email to archdiocesan priests.

"We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors," while allowing the archdiocese "to turn its full attention once again to its mission" of evangelization and works of mercy, said the archbishop in the email, a copy of which was provided to OSV News by the archdiocese.

Signing of the as-yet unfinalized deal is scheduled for the week of Nov. 6, he said.

Attorney Jeff Anderson of Anderson & Associates confirmed in an Oct. 25 statement that "all survivors who filed claims against the Archdiocese of New York have agreed to the settlement plan."

Archbishop Hicks had announced the proposed settlement in May, with Anderson and his team warning clients that "holdouts" among claimants could allow the archdiocese to potentially file for bankruptcy.

The settlement caps a five-year legal battle that has seen the archdiocese sell off property, while taking insurance giant Chubb to court over coverage for the claims.

Anderson said in his statement that individual claims will be evaluated by a neutral allocator to "uniquely determine the value of each claim based on the nature of the abuse and the harm done." However, he said, the settlement terms include a flat "quick-pay option" of $250,000 that some survivors can choose, thereby removing themselves from the individualized allocation process.

In addition, said Anderson, the settlement terms require the archdiocese to publish the names of credibly accused priests -- a practice that has become standard in a number of U.S. dioceses -- and to publicly disclose files of offending priests in a database.

He also pointed to the archdiocese's ongoing suit against Chubb.

"Under the terms of this deal, survivors will have a beneficial interest in the insurance litigation, and a conclusion of those claims in the future," said Anderson in his statement.

In December 2025, Archbishop Hicks’ predecessor, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, had announced that the archdiocese would be entering into mediation and working to raise more than $300 million for sexual abuse settlements.

That effort had included the 2024 sale of the archdiocese’s office headquarters, with the Manhattan property acquired for $100 million by Vanbarton Group, a boutique real estate investment firm.

In 2016, Cardinal Dolan had established an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, or IRCP, that provided millions in compensation to victim-survivors.

Retired Judge Daniel J. Buckley of Signature Resolution, the third-party mediator for the archdiocese's $800 million settlement, also oversaw the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ $880 million settlement in 2024, the largest of its kind at the time among U.S. Catholic dioceses.

Previously, OSV News found that U.S. dioceses had paid more than $5 billion to settle abuse claims from 2004 to 2024.

With the Archdiocese of New York settlement, that figure is now closer to -- and possibly in excess of -- $6 billion.