In a historic legal outcome, the national trial firm Robins Kaplan LLP announced it has secured a $5 million compensatory jury verdict on behalf of a survivor of child sexual abuse, T.M., against the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, Inc., which operates the prestigious Delbarton School in Morristown. This verdict is the first known in the State of New Jersey against an entity of the Catholic Church for sexual abuse of a minor.
The plaintiff, T.M., was a 15-year-old student at the Delbarton School in the 1970s when he was sexually abused by Father Richard Lott, an ordained priest and monk of the Order. T.M. testified that Lott took him to a New Year’s Eve party, supplied him with alcohol, and later sexually assaulted him in a building on campus. After a seven-week trial in Morris County Superior Court, the jury found that the Defendants—Father Richard Lott and the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey Inc.—were liable for the sexual abuse of T.M. while he was a minor. Specifically, the jury unanimously found that T.M. was sexually abused by Father Richard Lott, and that the Order/Delbarton School had negligently retained and supervised the ordained priest and monk.
Trial evidence highlighted the institution's systemic failure to act. T.M. had written a letter to then-Abbot Brian Clarke shortly after graduating, reporting his abuse. Abbot Clarke admitted in his testimony that he received the letter and later destroyed it. In 2018, the Order and the Delbarton School acknowledged that more than 30 individuals had come forward with abuse allegations involving over a dozen clergy members. Several other victims testified during T.M.’s trial that they had also been sexually abused by members of the Order and Delbarton School, including a young monk and the son of Delbarton’s groundskeeper who grew up on the Delbarton campus, who both allege that they were also abused by Father Richard Lott.
“This victory is a landmark for justice and a historic turning point in New Jersey,” said Rayna Kessler, lead trial counsel for T.M. and partner at Robins Kaplan. “The evidence presented at trial confirmed that the Order and the Delbarton School enabled decades of child sexual abuse and systematically concealed it to guard their reputation. By holding a powerful institution responsible through this jury trial, this result empowers survivors of sexual abuse to demand their day in court. T.M.’s courage and perseverance have paved a path to justice for all survivors seeking accountability.”
Michael Geibelson, lead trial counsel and partner at Robins Kaplan, added: “This $5 million verdict for a single, heinous incident of sexual assault sends a powerful, necessary message: the trauma inflicted by institutional betrayal has real consequences. This result, achieved through T.M.'s immense courage, doesn't just provide justice for him—it helps ensure that other survivors are empowered to seek and achieve the accountability that is long overdue.”
The case is the first of more than three dozen civil suits filed against Delbarton to go to trial. The verdict comes after New Jersey’s expanded statute of limitations, passed in 2019, which reopened the legal system to abuse survivors across the state. Survivors of child sexual abuse still have until the age of 55 to bring claims against those who caused and enabled their abuse.
Robins Kaplan LLP is a national law firm, known for delivering exceptional results in complex, high-stakes litigation.
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