Seattle Archdiocese, Pierce County school district settle suit over pedophile teacher for $2.45M
Seattle’s Catholic Archdiocese and a Tacoma-area school district have agreed to pay a combined $2.45 million to a Pierce County man to settle his lawsuit claiming that both institutions allowed a known pedophile teacher to keep working with children into the 1980s, enabling the teacher to prey on him and other children for years.
The Pierce County man — a 48-year-old law-enforcement officer identified only as D.W. in the suit — contended that officials for the archdiocese knew that Edward Courtney had sexually abused dozens of schoolchildren when they helped Courtney land a teaching job at Parkland Elementary near Tacoma in late 1980.
After his hiring at the since-closed public school, Courtney repeatedly molested D.W. while he was in the fifth and sixth grades, but Franklin Pierce School District officials allegedly failed to remove Courtney or notify police after receiving reports about Courtney’s alleged abuse of students, the suit claimed.
“What makes this case unique is that there is evidence that both the superintendent of Catholic schools and the superintendent from the public-school system had information that Courtney was a danger to children, which should have led to further investigation and the immediate termination of Courtney,” said Michael Pfau, a Seattle attorney who represented D.W. “By failing to take these steps, Courtney was able to continue to teach and additional children were abused.”
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/seattle-archdiocese-pierce-county-school-district-settle-suit-over-pedophile-priest-for-2-45m/