As abuse victims sobbed in the courtroom, a judge approved a $660 million settlement yesterday between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and 508 people who had filed suit over sexual abuse by clergy members.<\/p>\n
\u201cSettling the cases was the right thing to do,\u201d\u009d said Judge Haley J. Fromholz of Los Angeles County Superior Court.<\/p>\n
The settlement in the nation\u2019s largest Roman Catholic diocese is considered a landmark because the legal battle endured for more than four years, and because the sum is more than six times larger than any previous deal struck by a diocese.<\/p>\n
At a news conference outside the courthouse yesterday, sexual abuse victims stepped to the microphone one by one, many carrying photographs of themselves as children, and shared their feelings of betrayal by the church and in particular, the archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, a fixture in Los Angeles since 1985.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want Mahony going around saying everything is all right, because it\u2019s not,\u201d\u009d said Rita Milla, 45, a medical assistant who lives in Carson. \u201cMy church acted like it didn\u2019t know what was happening.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n