Jury Awards $16 Million to Man Abused by East Bay Priest as a Child

An Alameda County jury on Wednesday awarded $16 million in damages to a man who was sexually abused by his priest more than 50 years ago when he was a child, setting what will likely be a precedent used in hundreds of similar claims.

The verdict is believed to be California’s first in a Catholic clergy abuse case since a change in state law led to a flood of litigation in 2019. It is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the hundreds of cases against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland that have been tied up in bankruptcy proceedings for years.

“It tells everyone, including the bishops and the Roman Catholic officials … and other survivors that society, as represented by a jury, is tired of this,” said attorney Rick Simons, the lead plaintiffs’ liaison counsel. “They are yelling that it’s time for change, it’s to make places safe again, and it’s time to recognize just how destructive sexual abuse of a child is, especially by a power figure such as a priest.”

The bellwether case centered on a 61-year-old man who was repeatedly molested as a 10-year-old altar boy in Union City. He’s one of dozens who have brought cases against the Rev. Stephen Kiesle, who was first convicted of lewd conduct in 1978.

The Diocese of Oakland does not dispute that the abuse occurred or that it failed to properly supervise Kiesle, who was defrocked in 1987 and sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 on additional molestation charges. Currently, he is incarcerated on a separate vehicular manslaughter conviction.

The victim filed his case against Kiesle in 2019, after a change in state law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims. In response, thousands of lawsuits alleging abuse dating back decades were filed against the Catholic Church and other religious institutions, the Boy Scouts of America, schools and nonprofit organizations. The Diocese of Oakland alone faces more than 350 such allegations.

Expecting potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities stemming from those cases, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in 2023, putting a legal hold on most of the proceedings. Still, a handful were allowed to move to trial, serving as an indicator of how juries will respond to the allegations and decide on their consequences.

“The idea is this case, and if necessary, a couple of other trials, will help everybody involved get ideas as to ranges of values for cases, and that in turn should help settle the many, many cases that have not yet been settled,” Simons told KQED before the verdict.

He had asked the jury to award the victim $18 million in damages, while the Diocese of Oakland had asked for a much smaller sum, around $400,000.

“It’s pretty much closer to my number than it is to theirs,” Simons said. “It helps everybody, and that’s a great feeling to know that through my client, a most special person, I brought a little bit of light into what has been a seven-year path of darkness in this litigation.”

The diocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The verdict includes $12 million for past harm and an additional $4 million for future harm, said Simons, who represents about 80 plaintiffs in Northern California and serves as liaison counsel coordinating the interests of all plaintiffs in the complex litigation.

Throughout the trial, the victim testified for hours, recounting the harrowing abuse to the jury. He said that for years he’d buried the trauma he was subjected to as a young boy, but the 10-year-old who’d experienced it “stays with me,” according to the Mercury News. 

Simons echoed this sentiment, adding that his client has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder for decades. While attorneys for the diocese argued in court that the victim’s mental health couldn’t be entirely attributed to the abuse, pointing to other traumas in his past, a clinical psychologist hired by the victim’s attorney linked the mental health challenges to his childhood experiences.

While the jury has awarded the damages, they’ll not be collectible from the diocese directly due to an ongoing bankruptcy stay. Insurance coverage is not subject to the stay and could provide a source of compensation for victims.

In the meantime, the next of the bellwether cases moving to trial in Oakland is set to begin in June. Simons said that the hundreds that remain “are at the mercy of the bankruptcy system.”

KQED’s Ayah Ali-Ahmad contributed to this report.