The $5 million jury verdict in favor of a Delbarton School graduate who said he was sexually assaulted by a monk a half-century ago could have vast implications for one of New Jersey’s most prestigious private schools, as well as scores of other clergy abuse lawsuits, according to those who followed the landmark trial.
Delbarton — the tony Morris Township school that has educated top-flight business leaders, celebrities and athletes — can survive the hit to its reputation and finances, if it handles future cases appropriately and strikes the right tone with its public messaging, some observers said.
But the unanimous jury verdict delivered at the Morris County Courthouse on Oct. 8 will surely embolden others with sexual abuse claims to pursue cases against the school or other religious institutions, legal experts said. Delbarton and the Catholic Church will face more pressure to settle rather than fight in court.
With the $5 million award, “the value of those settlements likely went up significantly,” said Joseph Del Russo, a Montclair State University law professor and a former chief assistant in the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Story continues after gallery.
While every case will turn on its own set of facts, the verdict “will give the plaintiffs of other cases much more confidence to bring their cases forward,” said Del Russo, who led the prosecutor’s unit dealing with sex crimes.
The case, brought by a now-grown student identified in court only as “T.M.,” was watched closely as it was the first implicating the Catholic Church in a child sex abuse case to go to trial since New Jersey laws changed in 2019 to extend the statute of limitations on such claims. Hundreds more are pending in the state.
It was also the first abuse case to reach a jury among more than 30 outstanding lawsuits against the all-boys Catholic school, though Delbarton has settled others. T.M. said he was just 15 at the time of the encounter on New Year’s Day 1976.
Jurors will reconvene on Oct. 14 to determine whether the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, which runs the school and the adjacent St. Mary’s Abbey, should also have to pay punitive damages to the victim.
Attorneys representing the order and the Rev. Richard Lott, the monk accused of T.M.’s abuse, maintained their innocence throughout the trial. In a statement Wednesday, the school’s leaders said they were “disappointed” with the verdict” and “considering all legal options.”
They added that the alleged incident “occurred 50 years ago, when modern safeguards did not exist at secular or religious schools or other youth-serving institutions.” Delbarton and the abbey have made significant reforms in the decades since, officials added.
A spokeswoman for the school declined to comment for this story when reached on Friday.
Clergy abuse survivors and advocates cheered the outcome, saying it validated the victim’s claims and sends a powerful message of institutional accountability.
Delbarton verdict raises stakes for future lawsuits
The verdict could influence expectations by victims or juries and “raise the stakes for all parties,” said Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Crawford and other advocates say they’ve received many more calls from victims since the trial began in early September.
Philadelphia Attorney John Baldante, who represents several former Delbarton students in cases against the school, said he was thrilled with the outcome.
“For years we’ve been told by the church that these cases weren’t worth anything,” he said. “Now we see these cases are worth in the millions of dollars.” He said many of the remaining suits against Delbarton involve even longer instances of abuse than the one described by T.M.
Adam Horowitz, who represents numerous clergy abuse victims in New Jersey added: “Hopefully, this verdict will cause schools and churches to confront their past conduct and reconsider their safety plans. It may also cause institutions to reconsider whether they really want to put these facts before a jury in future cases.”
Despite the decades that have passed since the events T.M. described, and Lott’s proclamations of innocence, the jury unanimously agreed that the former student’s story was true. They found Lott to be 35% liable for the $5 million compensatory damage award. Delbarton and its monastery would be responsible for the remaining $3.25 million.
The five-week trial drew observers, many of whom had their own abuse stories, who packed the courtroom and offered support to T.M. as he cried on the stand and awaited the jury’s decision. Many praised him for tenacity and resilience amid a years-long quest for justice.
“This is a historic moment — the first successful New Jersey clergy sex-abuse trial against the Catholic Church,” said Marc MacNaughton, a former Delbarton School track coach and teacher who successfully sued the school after alleging he was fired for blowing the whistle on a former headmaster accused of inappropriate touching of students.
“The abbey should be shut down, and Delbarton School should be run by lay professionals,” he said.
Fundraising, enrollment on the line
Some say they hope the award’s impact will extend beyond the courthouse and help to reshape how religious institutions respond to allegations of abuse.
Crawford argued that if Delbarton does not institute major changes, parents won’t be willing to send their sons to the school. “Delbarton and OSBNJ may face renewed scrutiny from alumni, donors and the broader Catholic community,” he said, arguing it “could affect fundraising, enrollment and reputational standing for years to come.”
Richard Lott took care of a garden at St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton as part of his job as head of maintenance in 1975.
But Scott Sterner, a 1979 graduate of Delbarton, said he hopes his alma mater will continue to thrive despite the abuse that he believes did occur there years ago. Sterner, who has been active in the alumni committee in the past, said he loved his time at the school and doesn’t want it to “take a hit when the abuse is rooted in the church and not the school.”
“As an educational facility, Delbarton is fantastic and I want it to continue,” he said.
He argued that “most of this stuff happened years ago when it was a boarding school, which gave the clergy freer access. There shouldn’t be a black cloud over the school, there should be a cloud over the church, the order and abbey.”
Implications for Catholic Church
Whether last week’s decision is a precursor to other verdicts against the Catholic Church remains to be seen.
“Just because the plaintiff in this case prevailed doesn’t mean the next one will,” said Del Russo, the former prosecutor. But a clergy abuse victim who brings a new case against Delbarton may be in a better position “if the circumstances of his case are similar to this one.”
Delbarton’s reputation is no doubt tarnished, he added. “But it’s recoverable. If the school is wise, they will put this event into proper context. They need to do damage control and say `this isn’t who we are today.’ This happened 50 years ago and doesn’t define us. I don’t know that this one verdict will take away the school’s stature.”
More: NJ Supreme Court says state investigation of Catholic clergy sexual abuse can go forward
In Wednesday’s statement, Delbarton said it was one of only seven secondary schools in the U.S. to be accredited by Praesidium, which is described as “the leading independent accrediting firm in the field of abuse prevention.
“Delbarton continues to attract a record number of applications from academically strong young men and enjoys a high level of alumni and parent engagement,” it continued. “We are confident that all members of the Delbarton community are offered an opportunity to excel in a safe and supportive environment.”
This case was followed closely to see what it could suggest for upcoming cases against the school, said Sally F. Goldfarb, a Rutgers law professor. “To the extent that it’s a bellwether, we have seen that it represents a significant liability for the defendants,” she said. It’s therefore a strong possibility that Delbarton would try to settle future cases out of court, she added.
The damages awarded by the jury “shows that the stakes are high not just for the Delbarton School and the Order of St. Benedict, but also for other institutions that potentially face cases like this,” she added. Because every case is decided on its own merits, “it’s impossible to predict the outcome of other claims, but this case suggests that major financial liability is a real possibility, especially if the jury eventually decides to award significant punitive damages as well.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Can Delbarton recover from ‘historic’ $5M clergy sex abuse verdict?