Southern Baptist Convention settles sex abuse lawsuit against former judge Paul Pressler

The Southern Baptist Convention and others have settled a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Paul Pressler, a retired Texas judge and a longtime leader of the conservative resurgence within the convention. The case ended on Thursday after several settlements were reached with the man who made the accusations, Duane Rollins. Pressler is described in the report as the convention’s former vice president.

Rollins filed the lawsuit in 2017. It accused Pressler of abuse and said other defendants, including civil lawyer Jared Woodfill, the First Baptist Church of Houston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and the convention, knew or should have known about the assaults and could have stopped them. The dismissal order does not mention a settlement between Rollins and Pressler, but lawyers for both men described their agreement as “mutually satisfactory terms.” Rollins’s attorney, Michael Goldberg, and Pressler’s lawyer, Douglas Daniels, both used that phrase rather than calling it a settlement.

A judge in the 127th District Court granted Rollins’s request for dismissal with prejudice, citing that “all matters in controversy” had concluded, according to court records. Prior settlements with unspecified monetary amounts had been reached between Rollins and other defendants earlier in the year, the records show.

The Southern Baptist Convention and its executive committee, each of which was sued, said their settlement agreement in the case was confidential. In a statement after the dismissal, lawyers for the convention said, “Several factors ultimately made settlement the more prudent choice.” They cited “the horrendous nature of the abuse allegations,” the likelihood that counsel would have to cross-examine abuse survivors, the Executive Committee’s current financial condition, and the willingness of multiple insurance carriers to contribute to the settlement terms. Protecting the vulnerable is a concern at the heart of these allegations (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The lawsuit also named Woodfill, Pressler’s law partner and a former chair of the Harris County Republican Party, and accused him of knowing about the allegations and continuing to work with Pressler. Rollins alleged that Woodfill and church leaders knew of the accusations as early as 2004. Woodfill, who is running for Texas House District 138, did not reach a settlement with Rollins, according to his lawyer, Oliver Brown. Brown said an insurance company sought a settlement without Woodfill’s knowledge, despite an April court order stating that the issues between the two parties “are settled.”

The case grew out of the Houston Chronicle’s “Abuse of Faith” investigation, published in 2019, which the report describes as revealing the extent of abuse claims against Pressler and identifying more victims. That reporting led to a database of almost 300 church leaders, including deacons, youth pastors and Sunday school teachers, who had been accused of abuse. The convention then commissioned its own report, which the Chronicle says revealed more cover-ups and attacks against abuse survivors and led to structural changes within the denomination. The settlement was first reported by Robert Downen, one of the journalists behind the Chronicle investigation, who now works for the Texas Tribune.

Pressler, now 93, previously served as a youth pastor at Houston-area churches, as a state representative, and as an appellate judge for 14 years. In 1989 he was asked to head President George H.W. Bush’s Office of Government Ethics, but his nomination was later withdrawn. Rollins’s lawsuit alleged that Pressler abused him beginning when Rollins was 14 and a member of Pressler’s youth group. Rollins later worked as Pressler’s personal assistant in 2003 and 2004. Rollins also sued Pressler in 2004 over an alleged physical assault, which resulted in a $450,000 settlement. The abuse lawsuit sought $1 million. Rollins said he had suppressed memories of the rapes, which he recalled only after psychiatric treatment and multiple stints in prison.

Source: Read the original report