More than 130 young men who say they were molested at a Haitian school would be paid $60 million under a proposed settlement with a New England-based group of Jesuits, Fairfield University, and others, lawyers for the former students announced Friday.
$60 million settlement proposed in sex abuse lawsuit against New England Jesuits, others
If approved by a federal judge in Connecticut, the proposed agreement involving misconduct at Project Pierre Toussaint School in Cap-Haitien stands out because it will benefit former students in one of the most impoverished nations in the world.
“This settlement is life-changing for my clients,” said Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian during a news conference in Stamford, Conn. “The victims were homeless, without food, without clothing, and without medicine.”
Court papers filed in federal court in Connecticut Friday show the defendants don’t admit to any liability as part of the proposed agreement and have already contributed the $60 million to pay for the settlement plan.
Garabedian had filed federal civil suits on behalf of former students at the school, who alleged they were molested by Douglas Perlitz, 48, a founder of the now-closed school. In 2010, Perlitz pleaded guilty to sexually abusing at least eight children over a decade in Haiti and was sentenced to nearly 20 ye...