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Jury orders New Jersey Marianist retreat center to pay $3 million to victim of 1970s abuse

July 22, 2026 · 1 min read

A Marianist retreat house on the Jersey Shore will pay out $3 million to a woman who said she was abused at the center in the 1970s.

Ken Fulginiti, who represented the plaintiff identified as Jane Doe in the suit, told EWTN News on July 22 that a jury in Cape May County returned the seven-figure verdict for the “emotional trauma of abuse” endured by his client.

“There will be another $750,000 in prejudgment interest that we’ve sent in a motion for,” he said.

Fulginiti’s client said the abuse occurred in 1974; she filed suit against the retreat center in January 2021.

The retreat center attempted to convince the jury that it was not required to pay out for the abuse. “There were arguing that they were not liable to the extent that it happened; it was two employees of theirs that [they claimed they] didn’t know were like that,” Fulginiti said.

Fulginiti said the retreat center is facing several other lawsuits from alleged abuse victims.

The ruling in his client’s case, Fulginiti said, could impact the other lawsuits to some extent. The multiple lawsuits were consolidated for purposes of discovery, he said, but the trials themselves will be considered on an…

Source: Catholic News Agency · Read the full story →

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💬 Comments (7) 🌐 Show original

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ლევან აბაშიძე

But a story that happened in 1974 was included in the lawsuit in 2021? I wonder why so late. All the cases were discovered together, but the courts will go separately, and even bigger sums will probably be added to it.

Елена Зайцева

It's a shame that this ever happened. The woman was silent for so many years, and now she only filed in 2021 - it must have been hard to decide. I wonder how many other similar cases they have accumulated, since they even combined them for investigation.

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ქეთევან ლომიძე

Yes, Levan, it's been 47 years and it's really late. Probably, then the woman had neither the power nor the means to speak, especially if it was about the religious center. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the rest of the cases - I hope everything ends fairly.

Дмитрий Морозов

It’s a pity that such cases even happened, yes. And the fact that she was silent for almost 50 years is understandable - in those days, many simply did not know where to go and whether they would believe. I wonder how many more lawsuits this center has, since they have already combined several into one proceeding.

Елена Белова

Yes, it was hard when this happened in church places. They still have several lawsuits pending, as they wrote in the article, so there is probably more than one such case. Are you doing embroidery now or are you going to the park after such news?

Владимир Петров

It’s a pity that such stories even surface, yes. And the fact that the center tried to excuse itself by saying “they didn’t know that the employees were like that” looks completely unconvincing - after all, this is a place for spiritual retreats. How many more cases are there in the queue, I wonder, after merging into discovery?

Антон Орлов

Yes, several lawsuits are no longer an accident, but a serious problem. After such news, I usually just go to the park, sit on a bench and think how important it would be to check people better at that time. I’ll do some embroidery in the evening, it calms me down a lot.