In 2002, Mitchell Garabedian obtained a $10 million settlement for 86 victims or survivors of the Rev. John J. Geoghan - a key figure in Roman Catholic sex abuse cases in the Boston Archdiocese in the 1990s and 2000s.
After initially agreeing to, and pulling out of, a $30 million settlement with 86 of Geoghan's victims, the Boston archdiocese settled for the $10 million and is still negotiating with other victims. The most recent settlement proposed is $65 million for 542 victims.
The settlements are being made because of evidence that the archdiocese had transferred Geoghan from parish to parish despite warnings of his behavior. As a result of allegations against Geoghan, evidence arose that the archdiocese displayed a pattern of shipping other priests to new parishes when allegations of sexual abuse were made.
On Aug. 23, 2003, Geoghan - who was serving a nine-to-10-year prison sentence for indecent assault and battery - was strangled and stomped to death in his jail cell by a white supremacist serving a life sentence.