Man Receives $8 Million Settlement Over Priest Sexual Abuse Claims

A New York man has received an $8 million settlement from the Diocese of Albany over claims he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a child (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The payment was made to Michael Harmon ahead of a jury trial scheduled for October 20, according to the law firm LaFave, Wein, Frament & Karic, which represented him. The firm said Harmon was abused beginning at the age of 11 and that the abuse continued for several years.

The alleged abuser was named as Father Edward Charles Pratt, who at the time served as vice chancellor of the Albany diocese. Pratt is included on the diocese’s list of clergy “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, and he was removed from ministry in 2002.

Attorney Cynthia LaFave described the settlement as “substantial” but stressed that it “does not erase the trauma that Michael Harmon endured.” She noted that the settlement brings the abuse and those who allowed it into public view.

Harmon’s case was filed under New York’s Child Victims Act (2019), which temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to allow survivors of childhood sexual abuse to pursue legal action. The settlement comes amid a wave of similar cases across New York.

In July, hundreds of abuse survivors accepted a $246 million settlement from the Diocese of Rochester, one of the largest payouts to date by a U.S. Catholic diocese (Ephesians 5:11).

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Source record preserved at time of reporting.