Victim awarded $6.4 million in Catholic school sex abuse case

A $6.4 million judgment has been awarded in a local
Catholic Sex Abuse Case.

The jury found Thursday an unnamed victim had been
sexually abused weekly between 1961 and 1964 by Daniel
Adamson, a
former teacher and principal at Saint Benedict School in
Seattle.

The victim’s attorney says Adamson used a train set to
lure young boys down into the school basement.

In court documents, the victim said, “I just gave up
everything. I gave my clothes away, I dropped out of
school. I joined the Marines to escape, ended up in
Vietnam, where I served 13 months. Came back to St.
Benedict’s and the abuser was still there.”

The jury found that the Missionary Oblates of Mary
Immaculate ignored the student’s sex abuse complaints.

“It was extremely difficult for him to come forward but
this is vindication for him. He came forward not just for
himself, but because there are a lot of other people out
there who were abused by this same teacher who haven’t
come forward,” said the victim’s attorney, Jason Amala.

Adamson died in the mid-1970s while he was still principal
of the school.

The jury’s overall $8 million verdict was reduced to $6.4
million because jurors found the archdiocese and another
religious order that staffed the school to be 20 percent
responsible. The plaintiff settled with the archdiocese
for $500,000.

The verdict is believed to be largest ever against the
Catholic Church in Washington state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.