ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) – The Rochester Catholic Diocese says with the recent passage of the Child Victims Act in New York State, the diocese will conclude the settlement process involving retired State Supreme Court Justice Robert Lunn.
Retired State Supreme Court Justice Robert Lunn. Photo courtesy of the New York Academy of Mediators & Arbitrators.
Lunn had been serving as an independent mediator to help resolve claims against the diocese involving allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
A statement from the local diocese says that it now wants to assess where things stand as it prepares “to respond to and cooperate with the process set forth in this recent legislation.”
New York’s Child Victims Act gives survivors of childhood sexual abuse more access to pursue their abusers in court.
The Rochester Catholic Diocese says that the mediation program with Lunn will not end immediately. Instead, people making claims who have already completed the investigation phase of the program will have their claimed administered by Lunn.
The diocese says that when that process ends, more than 30 claimants will have been heard. And the diocese says that it has a long-established process of working directly with victims and will continue to do so.