The Next Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal Is Taking Place Right Now—in Bankruptcy Court
“I couldn’t wait to sue,” said Richard Tollner, who says he was abused by a priest when he was a teenager. He led the effort to reach a settlement with the Rockville Centre diocese. (Cindy Schultz for The Free Press)
A Free Press investigation reveals how dozens of Catholic dioceses are subverting the Child Victim Act, stopping lawsuits in their tracks and pressuring victims to accept pennies on the dollar.
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The first person to sue the Rockville Centre Catholic Diocese after the passage of New York’s Child Victims Act was a man named Richard Tollner. It was August 2019, and New York was one of seven states that had created a law giving sex abuse victims a limited window to bring lawsuits no matter how far in the past the abuse had taken place.
Tollner, who i…
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