ROCHESTER, Minn. — An Olmsted County jury awarded $7.6 million to a plaintiff who alleged clergy sexual misconduct and filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Winona.

The jury returned its verdict Monday after a weeklong trial to determine the damages.

The plaintiff, referred to as Doe 254, filed the complaint for a personal injury lawsuit in 2021 related to allegations of abuse in the 1970s. The case alleged three counts relating to negligence and demanded payment for the damages in excess of $50,000.

This case is a result of the Minnesota Child Victims Act of 2013, which lifted the statute of limitations on past claims of child sexual abuse for a three-year period that ended in August 2016. More than 100 claims of child sexual abuse by clergy arose after the act was passed.

Before the trial, the diocese’s attorneys filed a proposed statement that the diocese admitted negligence. The trial became an abbreviated one, focused on determining the damages owed to Doe 254.

Of the $7.6 million awarded, the jury determined that $7 million will compensate Doe 254 for past damages, including “past pain, disability, embarrassment, emotional distress.” The jury allocated $500,000 to compensate the plaintiff for future damages. The remaining $100,000 will cover the plaintiff’s health care expenses.

“The result of what the jury did yesterday was one of the best and greatest moments … that I’ve had,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who represented Doe 254. Anderson, of Jeff Anderson and Associates in St. Paul, has worked with survivors for 42 years.

During his opening statement, Anderson introduced the plaintiff as a 68-year-old Rochester man. When the plaintiff was 16, Joseph Cashman, a former priest of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, began sexually abusing him.

“Father Cashman sees opportunity. Father Cashman sees vulnerability,” Anderson said, according to court transcripts. “This priest is popular – he’s prominent among the kids, and the principal of the school. And he targets (Doe 254).”

The abuse occurred from 1973 to 1976. Cashman now lives in Dallas, according to Anderson’s law firm.

Anderson said the verdict came “as one of great relief” to his client.

“He feels that he has done something real to expose the problems in the diocese and in the Catholic Church hierarchy,” Anderson said, “so that other kids will be protected — and that was his first and most important priority.”

A statement from Vicar General Rev. William Thompson of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester said Cashman was ordained a priest in 1960 and served as principal of Lourdes High School from 1970 to 1977. He was suspended from the ministry in 1992.

“This verdict is part of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester’s bankruptcy reorganization, wherein the Diocese paid $22,056,000 in damages to survivors of child sexual abuse. Because of the prior funding of damages within the bankruptcy reorganization plan, the money damages awarded by the jury in this proceeding will not require any additional financial contribution by the Diocese of Winona-Rochester or its parishes or schools,” the statement said.

Following the national Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester continues to be “committed to ongoing transparency and to providing and maintaining a safe environment for all,” Thompson wrote.

“We pray for the survivor that was involved in this case, as well as all individuals who have been affected by clergy abuse,” he said.

In 2025, three new personal injury lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct were filed against the Diocese of Winona. The date the complaints were originally drafted showed that the lawsuits have been in the works for more than nine years.

Anderson, who’s representing the plaintiffs in these cases, said they hope this outcome can “blaze a trail for other survivors.” The remaining open cases have hearings scheduled in October and January 2026, he said.

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The Minnesota Twins announced have placed right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober on the 15-day Injured List with a left hip impingement. The move is retroactive to June 29.

Ober has made 17 starts for the Twins this season, going 4-6 with a 5.28 earned-run average, but in five June starts, the right-hander is 0-5 with 14 home runs surrendered and a 9.00 ERA. After allowing seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in a 16-3 loss to Texas on June 12, Ober said he had been working through pain in his left hip.

To replace Ober on the 26-man roster, the Twins recalled left-handed pitcher Kody Funderburk from St. Paul. In his most recent stint with the Saints, he allowed one run on eight hits in 9.0 innings with three walks and eight strikeouts in six relief appearances, from June 10-29.

Briefly

Infielder Jonah Bride cleared outright waivers and has been outrighted to St. Paul. Bride was designated for assignment after Sunday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers to make room for infielder Royce Lewis.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press

The Trump administration appears to be expanding RSV vaccinations to some adults starting at age 50, down from 60, following the advice of a recently fired panel of government vaccine advisers.

The decision appears on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage but as of Wednesday wasn’t on the agency’s official adult immunization schedule.

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Many forget the damage done by diseases like whooping cough, measles and rubella. Not these families

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, typically is a coldlike nuisance, but it can be severe, even life-threatening, for infants and older adults. The CDC recommends vaccination for certain pregnant women and a onetime shot for everyone 75 or older. But people as young as 60 with health problems that increase their risk can also get it.

In April, the CDC’s influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended expanding RSV vaccination to high-risk adults as young as 50, too. But the CDC lacks a director to decide whether to adopt that recommendation and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didn’t immediately act.

Last month, Kennedy fired all 17 members of that panel and handpicked seven replacements that include several vaccine skeptics.

The new panel alarmed doctors’ groups last week by ignoring settled science on a rarely used flu vaccine preservative and by announcing a probe of the children’s vaccine schedule. It didn’t revisit RSV vaccination for older adults.

Kennedy already had taken the unusual step of changing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations without consulting the committee.

On Wednesday, a page on CDC’s website said that on June 25, Kennedy had adopted the ousted panel’s recommendation to expand RSV vaccination to high-risk 50-somethings and it is “now an official recommendation of the CDC.”

That move was first reported by Endpoints News.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

“The combination of tightening rents and diminished safety net programs has precipitated a slow but accelerating deterioration of this ‘naturally occurring’ affordable housing.” 

A rent-stabilized building in the Bronx. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

There are slightly less than 1 million rent stabilized apartments in New York City, of which 780,000 were built before 1974. Most of this older housing is concentrated in the city’s low and moderate-income communities. As reported in the latest (2023) Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS), the city-wide household median income of these pre-1974 apartments is about $60,000 a year. In the Bronx, it’s about $42,500 a year for about 200,000 apartments, predominantly privately owned. 

This older housing is arguably the largest source of affordable housing in the city. Two self-inflicted wounds have affected these properties. 

First, in efforts to curb vacancy decontrol in higher income areas, the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) put a tourniquet on the cash flows of lower-income buildings—eliminating rent increases on vacancies and sharply narrowing permitted increases to pay for both individual and building-wide capital improvements.

This has made it difficult not only to operate the building amidst rising expenses, e.g., insurance, taxes and utilities, but also to pay for ongoing repairs in these aging buildings. Recent testimony by the Furman Center to the Rent Guidelines Board documented this problem. Furthermore, the rise in interest rates means that as mortgage loans come due, refinancing rates, assuming there are banks offering refinancing, would increase from 3-4 percent to over 6 percent. 

Second, safety net programs designed to help off-set increasing operating and repair costs have frayed. The program known as J-51, which would reduce real estate taxes to help pay for critical repairs, has had its benefits whittled down over the years to the point where they’re insufficient to incentivize meaningful renovations. A second program of low-cost secondary loans (1 percent), often coupled with J-51 for the most distressed buildings, is both underfunded, with processing too complicated and time consuming to be used at a scale that’s needed.

The combination of tightening rents and diminished safety net programs has precipitated a slow, but accelerating deterioration of this “naturally occurring” affordable housing. 

The collapse of Signature Bank was in part caused by defaults on its loans to rent stabilized buildings. The Community Preservation Corporation, partnering with Related Fund Management, has been selected by the FDIC to fix approximately 35,000 units in buildings that had about $5.6 billion of Signature mortgages. Their task is to restructure the properties so they remain affordable by restoring their physical and financial health. In addition to likely obtaining real estate tax abatement from the city, the FDIC will put up the lion’s share of $550 million to help pay for repair and other costs in these buildings.

Signature Bank loan problems are the tip of the iceberg. A survey done by Maverick Real Estate Partners estimates there’s about $50 billion of bank loans secured by properties that have 75 percent or more of rent stabilized apartments. Many of these are located in low and moderate-income neighborhoods. 

Many of these loans are no doubt classified as troubled by the banks and their regulators. Herein lies an opportunity to restore potentially a large number of affordable buildings to physical and financial health.

First, reinvigorate safety net programs in designated low and moderate-income areas: Reinstate as-of-right J-51 real estate tax abatements with updated eligible costs, enhanced to support more extensive building-wide improvements. (Past benefits could be expanded by 150 percent for defined moderate renovation.) This can be coupled with low interest city and state loans, and possibly funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank’s affordable housing program. 

Further investment can be made by existing or new owners. Needed work would include repairs and/or replacement of major building systems, e.g., plumbing, wiring, heating, etc., so that their useful life is extended by at least 30 percent longer than the term of the loan as certified by an approved engineer/architect. Further cash flow would be generated by permitted major capital rent increases, waived in all or in part for eligible seniors as per the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption program. 

In turn, the bank would restructure its debt to a fixed payment, say for 10 or 15 years, adjusted through discounts to produce a positive cash flow both to provide a return to owners, and a cushion to make ongoing repairs, e.g., a ratio of net income to debt payments of 115-120 percent. This combination has a long track record of success in preserving distressed affordable housing. 

Second, to incentivize the banks to undertake such steps, the State Mortgage insurance Fund (MIF), could provide “first loss” insurance to enhance the security of these restructured mortgages. The mortgage insurance would last only as long as the mortgage term. It would not cover the risk of refinancing. All other requirements for mortgage insurance would have to be met, including the above work scope; the loan size consistent with MIF’s loan to value standards; approved repair work equal at minimum to 20 percent of the loan. 

How big might this program be? The MIF’s capital reserves, which set aside one dollar for every five dollars insured, is funded by a .25 percent surcharge on the state’s mortgage recording tax, insurance premiums (.5 percent annual fee on the outstanding balances of multifamily loans), and interest on its capital reserves. 

Over the years, MIF has had substantial untapped capacity as it has returned unused surcharge funds to the state. Going forward the MIF might expand its program to provide the “top loss” insurance, for say 25 percent, for the restructured loans. The City’s Residential Mortgage Insurance program could supplement this effort, potentially creating billions of dollars of additional insurance capacity. This fully aligns with both mortgage insurer’s mission to “encourage investment in underserved areas.”

Will the banks view the cost and time of such restructuring worth moving troubled loans to performing status? It is uncertain. A more likely response for some banks may be to sell these loans at the best price they can get, or go through a lengthy foreclosure—both routes leaving the health of the building to an uncertain fate. Others might see an opportunity to buy discounted debt and work with owners experienced with the public programs to restore the properties to financial and physical health. 

Will the government expand the use of public insurance, and safety net programs to preserve this housing? This must be measured against the cost of inaction, or ineffective action. If public action is taken, it must be credible, best demonstrated by the creation of a simplified processing regimen to encourage broad private participation.

Why is the use of mortgage insurance important? The precipitous changes in HSTPA, undermined widely held assumptions regarding the long-term stability of rental projects. As a result, some banks have stated their intention to cut back on new loan originations for rent regulated housing.

Fixing these properties at any scale must engage the banks who hold these mortgages. A credible program to fix these properties, bolstered by mortgage insurance, may create renewed confidence in the soundness of this housing. Such assurance may be necessary to re-engage skeptical lenders to fund current and future rental projects.

If properly targeted, this program could have significant results in arresting decay, improving tenant living conditions while preserving housing affordability. It would be beneficial not only to residents, but to owners, banks and investors. It highlights the need to fix the problems of the HSTPA, and to reinvigorate safety net programs—two important corrective actions to keep this housing sound and affordable.  

Michael Lappin is the former CEO of the Community Preservation Corporation (1980-2011). During his tenure, CPC financed and/or developed the preservation and building of over 92,000 affordable apartments in New York City. Currently he heads Lappin Associates, providing development and advisory services for affordable housing.

The post Opinion: The Urgency Of Preserving Low- And Moderate-Income Rent Stabilized Housing appeared first on City Limits.