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Abuse Survivor and Attorneys Announce Breakthrough Settlement Involving St. John’s Abbey

By Mike Finnegan April 27, 2015

Jeff Anderson and Doe 2 Will Stand Together Tuesday and Announce Settlement of Civil Lawsuit against St. John’s Abbey and Fr. Allen Tarlton

Breakthrough settlement, modeled after Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis settlement, requires  St. John’s Abbey to publicly release the files of 19 St. John’s clerics likely to have offended against minors

Doe 2 was sexually abused repeatedly by Fr. Tarlton when he was a freshman at St. John’s Preparatory School in 1977. Doe 2’s case was one of the first filed in Minnesota under the 2013 Child Victims Act. Trial was scheduled to begin in the case in Stearns County on May 4 before Judge Vicki Landwehr.

  • Doe 2 will attend, disclose his name and speak about the case. The event will be live streamed.
  • Father Tarlton’s personnel and “incident” file will be released.
  • Portions of Father Tarlton’s October 2013 deposition testimony will be played and released.
  • The plan for release of 18 additional priest files and the significance of this settlement – that children will be safer – will be discussed. As part of the settlement, the personnel and incident files of  the additional 18 St. John’s monks who have been deemed likely to have offended against minors will be publicly released over the coming months.
  • The photos and identities of the credibly accused clerics will be shown.

“The credit for achieving this groundbreaking settlement rests with Doe 2, for having the courage to find his voice, stand up for truth and demand transparency with accountability,” said Jeff Anderson, one of Doe 2’s attorneys.

The 18 additional monks whose files will be released are: Br. Andre Bennett, Fr. Michael Bik, Fr. Robert Blumeyer, Fr. Cosmas Dahlheimer, Fr. Richard Eckroth, Fr. Thomas Gillespie, Fr. Othmar Hohmann, Fr. Francis Hoefgen, Fr. Dominic Keller, Fr. John Kelly, Fr. Brennan Maiers, Fr. Finian McDonald, Fr. Dunstan Moorse, Br. Jim Phillips, Fr. Francisco Schulte, Fr. Pirmin Wendt, Fr. Bruce Wollmering, Fr. Angelo Zankl.

“We are grateful to stand with Doe 2 and the many survivors who are now standing up for themselves and the truth, and given a chance they now have under the Child Victims Act, which they didn’t have before,” Mr. Anderson said.

WHEN:  Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at 1:00PM CT
WHERE:  Offices of Jeff Anderson and Associates, P.A.
                366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
                St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES:  Documents will be available online and we will live stream the press event from our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

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