Fifty-four people signed up for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's $3 million sex-abuse victim compensation fund in the final two days before the deadline.
Matt Garretson, the Cincinnati attorney appointed administrator of the tribunal that will distribute the money, had 80 applicants at the end of the day Monday. The final tally following Wednesday's deadline was 134.
"I would temper that number with the fact that all of those (applications) have to be reviewed and verified," Garretson said Thursday. "I think there could be real victims alarmed by the claim numbers if they look at the rough averages. That's just the number submitted."
If all 134 were approved for payment from the pool, the average payment would be $22,388.06.
Garretson now begins determining the validity of each complaint. He also must match the dates, times and places with the accused and the victims, and determine how much each qualified applicant receives from the $3 million fund.
He hopes to have his recommendations to the tribunal -- Cincinnati lawyer Robert Stachler and former Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judges Thomas Nurre and Ann Marie Tracey -- by late this fall, and the money disbursed by the end of the year.
Mason attorney Konrad Kircher represents 95 victims of priest sex abuse and said just 25 signed up to receive money from the pool, a move he views as an act of resignation. "To them, it is kind of an acknowledgment of defeat, but they just want to get it over with," he said.
The fund was established as part of a November plea deal the archdiocese agreed to with Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen. In exchange for pleading no contest and being convicted of five counts of failing to report priest sex abuse, the archdiocese was fined $10,000 and agreed to establish the $3 million fund.
To qualify for the fund, victims had to give up their right to sue the archdiocese over abuse claims. Those who have lost cases in court, though, can qualify for money from the fund.
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