Clergy Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Loans

Pre Settlement Funding on Clergy Abuse Cases

TriMark provides cash advances to survivors awaiting clergy abuse settlements.

TriMark Legal Funding is one of America’s foremost plaintiff legal funding companies. We provide risk-free cash advances to survivors awaiting a Catholic church sexual abuse lawsuit settlement.


Lawsuit Advances on Clergy Abuse Settlements

When you’re waiting for your attorney to negotiate your clergy abuse lawsuit settlement, it’s not unusual to fall behind on your bills.

Clergy Abuse Lawsuit Loans

If you’re involved in a church abuse lawsuit or settlement negotiations and are behind on bills, a lawsuit cash advance from TriMark Legal Funding could be the hand-up you need.

You could catch up on bills and regain control of your finances until your attorney finishes negotiating the maximum compensation you deserve.

Pre-Qualify For Legal Funding Now

✔️ Are you a clergy sexual abuse survivor?
✔️ Are you represented by a contingent fee attorney?
✔️ Are you at least 18 years old today?
✔️ Are you behind on bills and need help fast?

If you answered yes to all four questions, there’s a good chance you’re already qualified for a lawsuit cash advance from TriMark Legal Funding.

Lawsuit funding is a non-recourse cash advance against a portion of your future clergy sexual abuse settlement award.

There are no monthly payments and your approval is based on the strength of your case, not your credit score. Best of all, you only repay the advance if, and when, your case is resolved successfully.

Get the money you need now to keep your head above water and then relax while your attorney finishes negotiating the maximum compensation you deserve.

Clergy Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Funding FAQ

❓ Q: What Is Legal Funding?

A: Legal funding is a risk-free cash advance that provides immediate financial relief to injured plaintiffs. They’re easy to qualify for, there are no credit checks, and they are only repaid after the case is resolved successfully.

❓ Q: How Much Does Legal Funding Cost?

A: If you’re thinking about getting a lawsuit cash advance on your case, it makes sense to be concerned about the cost.

The short answer is “it depends”. Read more

Sexual Misconduct Definition:

ANY unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that is directed against either an unwilling recipient or a recipient who is incapable of giving knowing consent.

Important Notice: Civil vs Criminal

Many types of sexual misconduct are crimes that can be prosecuted under either civil law or criminal law.

  • Civil lawsuits
    Results in monetary penalties like settlements and jury verdicts
  • Criminal lawsuits
    Results in civic penalties like prison, probation, and restitution

IMPORTANT: TriMark can only offer legal funding on civil lawsuits, i.e. where the plaintiff is represented by a contingent fee attorney who has filed a lawsuit against a sufficiently-insured or self-insured defendant that will pay a monetary settlement or jury award at the conclusion of litigation.

More Resources On Clergy Sexual Abuse

Catholic clergy sexual abuse is a sickening and reprehensible global catastrophe of truly epic proportions and it seems to have engulfed the entire world.

Our blog has an ever-expanding trove of excellent articles where you can learn more.

Here are a few examples:

See All of Our Articles

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Latest Developments in Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse News…

One of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States announced a settlement agreement Tuesday to resolve a bankruptcy case in New Mexico that resulted from a clergy sex abuse scandal. The tentative deal totals $121.5 million and would involve about 375 claimants. Recent Stories from ABC News The proposed settlement comes as the Catholic Church continues to wrestles with a sex abuse and cover-up scandal that has spanned the globe. Some of the allegations in New Mexico date back decades. The chairman of a creditors committee that negotiated the agreement on behalf of the surviving victims and others said it would hold the Archdiocese of Santa Fe accountable for the abuse and result in one of the largest diocese contributions to a bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history. It also includes a non-monetary agreement with the Archdiocese to create a public archive of documents regarding the history of the sexual… Read more
The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.2 million to a man who alleged that he was sexually abused when he was 12 years old by a defrocked priest who was convicted of sexually abusing several boys, the man’s attorney announced on Tuesday. The settlement of the case before a lawsuit was filed was announced in a news release by attorney Lyndsay Markley and marks the latest chapter in the story of Daniel McCormack, one of the most notorious pedophiles in the history of Chicago’s archdiocese. McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s parish in Chicago, was released from prison last fall and has registered as a sex offender with the Illinois State Police. According to published reports, he was listed at that time as living in Chicago’s Near North neighborhood. The settlement follows other similar settlements… Read more
Alex Harrison waited a dozen years for one more chance to be believed. The first time he testified, he was a guilt-ridden college tennis player who had alleged that his revered high school coach had abused him. But the criminal case ended in a mistrial, the coach was a free man, and Harrison — ostracized by his teammates, his friends’ parents and his insular hometown in Marin County, Calif. — descended into anxiety and self-doubt. By the time Harrison swore to tell the truth last week, circumstances had changed. His former coach, Normandie Burgos, was in prison after being sentenced to 255 years to life for molesting two other tennis pupils. Harrison had become a prosecutor in Southern California, and gone public in The New York Times about his trauma. And now, Harrison was taking the stand in his own civil case against his former school district, accusing it of… Read more
If you know someone who has been the victim of clergy abuse, or if you experienced this unacceptable violation yourself, know that there are now support groups that help you tell your story. The legal system is now going after abusive priests, unlike the scenario even a few years back. The church has mandated that all sexual abuse allegations be reported to law enforcement agencies. It is now a lot easier for victims to be heard and get their abusers to be held accountable. Read on to know how you can deal with abuse by a clergy member. Report the Incident The first thing anyone should do after being a victim of clergy abuse is to report it to a law enforcement agency. They also need to ask for medical care, which includes getting access to resources for mental health issues as well. Many people are frightened to report such… Read more
The Archdiocese of Seattle said Thursday it will pay $375,000 to settle two separate claims of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. The Roman Catholic archdiocese said in a news release that it settled a case involving allegations of childhood sexual abuse in the early to mid-1970s by David Pearson, a volunteer at St. Joseph Parish in Issaquah. Pearson has died. The archdiocese also said it settled a case involving an allegation of sexual abuse by Father Paul Conn in about 1987 when he served at Queen of Angels Parish in Port Angeles. Conn served as a parochial vicar at Queen of Angels from 1985 until 1988, the news release said. In 1988, the archdiocese said it learned of sexual abuse allegations and passed … Read more
A Roman Catholic diocese in New Jersey agreed on Tuesday to pay $87.5 million to resolve clergy abuse claims from some 300 alleged victims. The cash settlement signifies one of the largest payouts involving U.S. Catholic churches accused of mishandling clergy sexual abuse allegations. If the deal is approved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge, the Diocese of Camden will allot money to alleged survivors—up to $290,000 each, according to victims’ attorneys Jay Mascolo and Jason Amala—through a trust over the course of four years. Abuse advocates and attorneys said the settlement is a positive step. But the Diocese of Camden has avoided transparency by keeping documents sealed that detail the nature of the accusations and how church leaders handled them. Victims’ attorneys said they expect … Read more
A former Catholic priest removed from the clergy in a sex abuse scandal was charged Wednesday with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated by the Contra Costa County district attorney. Walnut Creek Police said 75-year-old Stephen Kiesle, of Rossmoor, was behind the wheel of a vehicle at about 9:15 p.m. Saturday night that struck a couple walking on the sidewalk on Tice Creek Drive near Fairlawn Court in Rossmoor. The collision killed 64-year-old Curtis Gunn and caused minor injuries to his wife, Laurelyn Gunn, both of Rossmoor. Kiesle, who police said also suffered minor injuries, was extricated from his vehicle by the fire department and later arrested. According to a news release issued Wednesday from the office of District Attorney Diana Becton, Kiesle was also charged … Read more
A Sevier County lawsuit alleges the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville mishandled a report about a priest sexually assaulting a parishioner two years ago. Father Antony D. Punnackal, the priest who is also a defendant in the suit, is on suspension from his role as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Gatlinburg after a grand jury indicted him in January on charges related to the same incident. The lawsuit is the third ongoing civil case in the state against the Catholic Church for abuse related incidents. The other two are against the Knoxville diocese and the Diocese of Nashville for incidents in Knoxville and Murfreesboro, respectively. Plaintiffs in all three cases are unnamed. A spokesperson for the diocese declined to comment on the substance of… Read more
A 19-year-old man has sued the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland over allegations that it failed to protect him from a former priest who was sentenced to prison for exploiting children. The man filed the lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court earlier this month, alleging that Robert McWilliams raped and sexually molested him. The accuser was about 15 years old at the time of the incidents. McWilliams was serving a life sentence for sexually exploiting boys when he died by suicide in February. He was 41. The lawsuit, filed by Lebanon attorney Konrad Kircher, says the diocese had obtained information about McWilliams during his years as a seminarian. The suit says it “revealed that McWilliams was an immature, emotionally unstable individual, who, in the context … Read more
New York: A US association for victims of sexual abuse denounced Monday a former bishop in New York state who admitted to having ignored multiple sexual assaults on children committed by 11 priests over 25 years. In April 2021, Howard Hubbard, an ex-bishop in the city of Albany, testified under oath over four days before the state's Supreme Court and acknowledged that from 1977 to 2002, he was informed of sexual abuse committed against minors without turning the clergy members over to police. The 680-page deposition was made public Friday under a judge's order and has since caught the attention of the US media. "Now parishioners and the public know concretely that their former bishop was actively involved in covering up abuse," the nonprofit Survivors … Read more
Victims of sexual abuse or a sexual assault can often get financial compensation for their pain and suffering by bringing a civil lawsuit against the abuser or the employer/organization that enabled the abuse to occur. Almost any type of criminal sexual conduct or unwanted sexual contact can form the basis for a sexual abuse or sexual assault lawsuit. Compensation in a sexual abuse lawsuit can be awarded for things such as: medical bills (including mental health counseling), lost wages or income, and pain & suffering (including mental anguish resulting from the abuse). The most successful sexual abuse lawsuits are those in which a corporation or institution can be held liable. When the abuse occurs at a school, church, hospital, etc., that entity can potentially be … Read more
An Auburn man has filed a negligence lawsuit accusing two now deceased priests of sexually abusing him while he was a student at a Catholic school in Holbrook during the 1980s. The suit, filed Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court, alleges the abuse occurred at St. Joseph School when Gerry Nee, now 46, was 6 to 12 years old. The alleged abuse took place in confessionals and a vacant rectory, where one sexual assault left Nee in need of medical attention, according to the nine-page lawsuit. Nee wants to set an example for his children and hopefully inspire other victims to come forward, Nee’s lawyer, John T. Martin, said Wednesday. “It took a tremendous amount of courage for Gerry to disclose what happened and he had … Read more
The decade of inaction that went by after the first of Smithfield priest Francis C. Santilli‘s alleged victims came forward has fueled a renewed drive to hold institutions — including the Catholic Church — legally liable for the sexual abuse of children. On Tuesday, Rep. Carol McEntee introduced the latest version of a bill to eliminate the time limit on lawsuits by victims of childhood sex abuse. And not for the first time, McEntee is seeking to remove a barrier to the filing of lawsuits against people and institutions who enabled and protected child sexual abusers by looking the other way or concealing their crimes. The battle is personal for McEntee. She grew up in a devout Catholic home and learned years later that her … Read more
He played a pivotal role in helping The Boston Globe uncover the widespread scandal in the Catholic Church and was portrayed in the movie “Spotlight.” Phil Saviano was a relentless and determined activist who documented the actions of dozens of pedophile priests in the Boston area and coaxed other survivors to go public with their stories. Phil Saviano carried a terrible secret for much of his life — that in the early 1960s, when he was 11, he was sexually molested by his parish priest in Massachusetts. Nearly 30 years later, suffering from AIDS and believing he would soon die, he decided to go public about the abuse and disclosed his experience to The Boston Globe. As it happened, Mr. Saviano lived, and he went … Read more
On his first day on the job in July 2001, Globe editor Martin Baron stopped by the desk of Eileen McNamara, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. A week earlier, on July 29, 2001, McNamara had published a column about the Boston Archdiocese’s silence on three Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children. One line, in particular, had irked Baron. McNamara had wondered whether an accused priest’s superiors had known about his crimes. Court documents were sealed. “The public,” she concluded, “has no way of knowing.” McNamara recalls Baron standing over her desk: “Why don’t we find out,” he said. Spotlight’s investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church did not begin with a tip or newly obtained document, as so many investigations do. Instead, it started when a new … Read more
New York’s population is over 30% Catholic. With the abundance of Roman Catholic Churches and schools in the state and the sordid reality of predatory clergy, it’s unsurprising that New York has a significant number of priest sex abuse claims. The widespread molestation and rape that clergy have committed against children have caused the Church to face serious financial troubles and severe damage to their reputation. The statute of limitations was extended in several states and led to thousands of new priest abuse lawsuits throughout the U.S., including New York. Combined with the NY Child Victims Act, which allows … Read more
Even before he was ordained a Catholic priest, the Rev. Ronald Lange went to Ghana in 1968 to do missionary work. In a profile by a community newspaper years later, Lange spoke of his commitment to learning about Ghana while teaching at schools there and leading a parish with more than a dozen worship sites. “The people are just so happy to see you,” Lange, a member of the Society of the Divine Word’s Chicago province, based near Northbrook, was quoted as saying. “You don’t even have to be a good priest.” And he wasn’t, as his order now acknowledges…. Read more
A recent bankruptcy court filing by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre sheds new light on the scope of sexual abuse by clergy who served on the North Fork, but critics say they believe an attached list of abusers omits the names of dozens more perpetrators.  The April 15 filing documents allegations against some former local priests who hadn’t previously been publicly accused of abuse and offers new details about locations where incidents occurred here and elsewhere on the East End. But attorneys representing victims of clergy sex abuse say the report excludes allegations leveled at prominent figures in the Catholic church on Long Island, including the late Bishop John McGann and Msgr. Alan Placa.  Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, Mass., whose work with clergy sexual … Read more
St. Therese Catholic parish in Albuquerque knows too well the scourge of clergy sexual abuse. Eight of the 79 priests and other clergy members on the archdiocese list of those “credibly accused” of molesting children worked at the North Valley parish over a 32-year period. The first priest was assigned in 1959, five years after the current church was built. The eight included Jason Sigler, one of the few priests who worked in New Mexico who were criminally charged and who went to prison after being convicted of sexually abusing a minor. Across the U.S., many survivors of clergy abuse served as altar boys in the church or belonged to parish youth groups when they were molested. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s website says it has adopted a “zero-tolerance” policy on … Read more
A state-led investigation into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Colorado in 2019 discovered 52 priests were responsible for sexually assaulting 212 children between the 1950s and 1999. Now, one of the victims is telling a story of healing after he reached a settlement with the church. “I never thought I would come out of the darkness,” said Troy Gallegos, a Denver man who kept his story a secret for more than four decades. “I’m still trying to climb out of there.” Gallegos was a lead altar boy at Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Denver. He said he kept the secret out of fear and out of respect for his mother’s visible position with the Denver Archdiocese. “I used to hate to go to school because it was right next to the church,” Gallegos said. “I was always nervous because the … Read more
A top official with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe says a financial flood from clergy sex abuse claims is coming and a settlement would serve as the dam to prevent devastation to parishes across northern New Mexico. A letter from the Rev. Glennon Jones is posted on the archdiocese’s website. It states that progress is being made in collecting donations for a bankruptcy settlement prompts by allegations of abuse perpetrated by priests and other clergy over decades. The letter states that should the bankruptcy fail, nothing would be safe from liquidation to pay for legal costs and lawsuit settlements. “What a tragedy it would be to lose hundreds-of-years-old churches and property to legal fees and lawsuit settlements, not to mention much of New Mexico’s cultural … Read more
A third victim has come forward in a federal lawsuit accusing Catholic priests of sexual abuse of minors across southern Arizona in the 1970s and 1980s. Initially filed in December, the lawsuit claims that the Tucson Diocese and Los Angeles Archdiocese covered up abuse and moved priests around instead of reporting them to law enforcement. The racketeering lawsuit was filed following a change to the Arizona Child Victims Act, which increases the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse from age 20 to 30 and allowed adults older than 30 to file claims up until Dec. 31, 2020. Just before the December deadline, hundreds of civil lawsuits were filed in Arizona courts by people who said they suffered abuse as children in Arizona… Read more
A federal lawsuit has been filed by a Lapeer County man who alleges he was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest when he was eight years old while attending Bishop Kelley Catholic School in Lapeer. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by the victim, who is now 18 years old. The plaintiff is a former student at Bishop Kelley Catholic School and former member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Parish. He seeks to use a pseudonym in the case due to his status as a survivor of criminal sexual assault as a minor. The lawsuit alleges Bishop Kelley Catholic School, Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Parish, the Archdiocese of Detroit and Archbishop Allen Vigneron, allowed the rape … Read more
As a 5 p.m. deadline to file sex abuse claims against the Catholic Church loomed, roughly 50 claimants filed forms saying they were preyed upon by members of the clergy. Another 370 claimants filed proof of claim forms saying the Archdiocese of New Orleans owed them millions of dollars for other reasons, from outstanding utility company bills to accidental falls on church property. The New York-based firm processing the compensation demands received at least 56 claims in which the claimant’s name and address was intentionally omitted, a likely signal those were filed by anonymous clergy abuse victims. That number is likely to grow, according to attorneys counseling alleged victims. Uncertainty surrounding the total number and value of claims could linger throughout the week. Claims can … Read more
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has paid millions of dollars in recent years to resolve accusations of sexual abuse against priests working in local parishes. Yet, the names of many of those priests are missing from the archdiocese’s public roster of clergy accused of sexually abusing children, an accounting that began a decade ago under pressure from victims. Their exclusion has angered survivors of abuse, particularly in light of Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s longstanding pledge to be transparent about clergy sexual abuse after decades of secrecy. “It just seems like they’re trying to cover up,” said David, who in November received a settlement in “the high five figures” from the archdiocese, according to his attorney, Mitchell Garabedian. It was awarded after David underwent painful … Read more
The Archdiocese of Seattle has reached over $2 million in settlements in the past six months due to credible allegations of sexual abuse by four Catholic priests in Western Washington, including two former leaders of a parish in Snohomish and one in Everett. The Rev. Michael C. OBrien led St. Michael Parish from 1974 to 1979. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dennis Champagne from 1979 to 1999, who then became the priest of St. John Bosco Church in Lakewood. Church leaders put Champagne on leave in 2002, after someone accused him of sexual misconduct. OBrien was also accused of “a credible complaint of sexual abuse,” and he was defrocked in 2010. Both men had been flagged as potential abusers for decades but continued to … Read more
Paul R. Shanley, a defrocked priest and convicted child rapist who became one of the most notorious figures in the Catholic Church clergy sexual abuse scandal, died of heart failure on Oct. 28 at a Ware hospice facility, according to state officials. The 89-year-old had been living in Ware since his release from prison three years ago after serving 12 years for repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s. “Children are now safer because of the passing of Paul Shanley,” said Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented dozens of Shanley’s victims in civil claims against the church and described him as “one of the poster boys of clergy sexual abuse throughout the United States and the world.” Garabedian said Shanley’s victims feel cheated because he died … Read more
The federal investigation into Catholic priest abuse now includes every diocese in the nation. U.S. Attorney William McSwain has put every archdiocese, diocese and Catholic entity on notice to preserve and not destroy evidence of priest abuse or a cover-up. An attorney for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops told the York Daily Record Friday the organization is complying with a request from the U.S. Department of Justice. In a letter sent earlier this month, McSwain directed conference President Daniel DiNardo to notify all Catholic institutions to preserve documents in their current form and condition, "and not be destroyed, discarded, disposed of, deleted, or altered in any way." Part of the letter was published by a Philadelphia blogger on Friday. It shows the letter … Read more
Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and law enforcement not to investigate it, according to a searing report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday. The report, which covered six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, is the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The report said there are likely thousands more victims whose records were lost or who were too afraid to come forward. It catalogs horrific instances of abuse: a priest who raped a young … Read more
Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley has completed his prison sentence and is expected to be released this week. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented Shanley's victims and numerous other victims of the Roman Catholic church child sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, told NBC Boston that Shanley is set to be released on Friday. He is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater. Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean's Parish in Newton in the 1980s. He was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children. During … Read more
Fifteen years after the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston broke into public view, hundreds of victims around the world continue to come forward, including some who say they were attacked as recently as 2001, advocates said Thursday. Two victims’ support groups and a lawyer who has represented more than 2,000 survivors worldwide denounced church officials for doing too little to help those who were abused and to protect children from harm, despite ongoing revelations about the scope of the crisis. “You have reportedly the most moral institution in the world acting the most immoral,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian said at a news conference Thursday in downtown Boston. “There is no excuse for it.”… Read more
The Diocese of Camden has made financial settlements to resolve claims of Catholic priest sexual abuse involving parish priests in the 1950s and 1960s, a lawyer said Monday. The payments took place after two men alleged they were sexually assaulted in separate incidents when they were children, said attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston. He gave no details but said each settlement was “in five figures.” A Boston attorney says the Diocese of Camden has settled a claim that a priest abused a boy at the former St. Maurice Church in Brooklawn. One man, now in his 70s, alleged that the Rev. Joseph Brennan sexually abused him from 1957 to 1959 at the former St. Maurice Parish in Brooklawn, Garabedian said. The man was 12 to … Read more

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