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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | U.S. Fire Insurance Agrees to $30 Million Settlement for 145 Winona-Rochester Clergy-Abuse Survivors
Agreement follows decades of abuse claims, the diocese's 2018 bankruptcy and years of litigation over the insurer's financial responsibility
ROCHESTER, MN (September 6, 2026). A $30 million settlement with the largest insurer of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester will provide additional compensation to 145 people who survived sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and staff, bringing another lengthy phase of litigation over the abuse claims toward a close.
The agreement is with the United States Fire Insurance Company, commonly identified as U.S. Fire, and follows years of litigation over the insurer's responsibility for claims involving abuse dating back decades.
St. Paul-based Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents survivors, announced the settlement Thursday.
Attorney Jeff Anderson told MPR News that some of the abuse covered by the settlement dates to the early 1960s and that some survivors began filing claims against the diocese as far back as the early 1980s.
The $30 million settlement is separate from money previously obtained through the Diocese of Winona-Rochester's bankruptcy proceedings.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 after facing numerous sexual-abuse claims.
In 2021, the diocese and other insurers reached a settlement with 145 survivors. U.S. Fire, however, was not part of that settlement, leaving litigation over its obligations unresolved.
That distinction is important.
The newly announced $30 million does not replace the earlier settlement. It represents additional compensation resulting from the long-running dispute over U.S. Fire's insurance coverage.
Years of Litigation Continued
The insurance dispute persisted even after the bankruptcy agreement.
Three abuse cases went to trial in Winona and Olmsted counties in 2025, producing jury awards totaling approximately $16.9 million. The cases involved abuse of minors during the 1970s.
Another lawsuit involving more than $27 million in claims connected to nine survivors and former priest Thomas Adamson had been expected to proceed this month before the settlement was reached.
The agreement therefore resolves more than a new round of compensation. It closes a major remaining insurance dispute that survived the diocese's bankruptcy process.
The Diocese of Winona-Rochester's vicar general told MPR News that settlement of the U.S. Fire dispute concludes future litigation arising from the bankruptcy.
The diocese also said it remains committed to its Safe Environment Program for protecting children, vulnerable adults and young people participating in parishes, schools, religious education and other ministries.
U.S. Fire's parent company, Crum & Forster, did not provide MPR News with a response when the settlement was announced.
WHY THIS SETTLEMENT MATTERS
For survivors, the agreement arrives after decades in which the underlying abuse, civil claims, bankruptcy proceedings and insurance litigation unfolded across multiple legal processes.
Insurance coverage can become one of the final and most consequential questions in institutional-abuse cases because the amount insurers are legally required to contribute can substantially affect compensation available to survivors.
Here, litigation over that responsibility continued years after the diocese itself entered bankruptcy.
The $30 million agreement resolves that remaining dispute with the diocese's largest insurer.
It does not undo the abuse that produced the claims or the years survivors spent seeking accountability.
It does bring another significant part of that legal process to an end.
RESOURCES FOR SURVIVORS
People affected by sexual abuse can seek confidential support through established victim-service and sexual-assault resources regardless of whether they participated in this litigation.
MinneapoliMedia will continue following institutional accountability, survivor compensation and any further developments connected with implementation of the settlement.
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