One of New Orleans' most prominent Catholic high schools has agreed to a seven-figure settlement to resolve a lawsuit alleging child molestation by janitors decades ago. The agreement was reached with Jesuit High School just before a trial scheduled for June 15 in the city's civil district court, about six years after the plaintiff sued under a pseudonym.
Settlement Details
Plaintiff's attorney Richard Trahant declined to specify the amount but did not deny it was seven figures or possibly higher than a notable $2.4 million verdict awarded to another Louisiana religious abuse claimant in 2025. Attorneys for the school and the religious order did not respond to inquiries. The settlement came to light when the Guardian contacted Judge Omar Mason's chambers and learned the trial was off, with a letter filed Thursday confirming the resolution.
Related Cases
Another Trahant client, suing as Jayson Doe, alleges abuse by one of the same janitors and is preparing for a September 21 trial. Both lawsuits involve abuse in the 1970s and stem from the Catholic clergy molestation scandal that led the New Orleans archdiocese to file for bankruptcy in 2020. The archdiocese and its insurers have agreed to pay $305 million to abuse survivors, but these cases are legally separate from that bankruptcy.
Deposition Revelations
Trahant and associates secured shocking testimony from past and current Jesuit High presidents. Rev. Anthony McGinn, president from 1992-2010 and 2014-2017, confirmed in a January deposition that nine colleagues—mostly clergymen—were credibly accused of child sexual assault while he worked with them at the school. He agreed that the school should have conducted a background check on janitor Peter Modica, a serial child molester who worked there in the 1970s despite a 1963 guilty plea for molesting boys. The school paid at least seven settlements involving Modica starting in 2012.
Current president Rev. John Brown testified that he would not report child abuse disclosed in confession, citing the seal of confession. He also revealed that his predecessor, Rev. Christopher Fronk, routinely deleted nearly all emails, even after abuse litigation was anticipated. Attorneys have requested sanctions against school attorneys who knew about the deletions.
Plaintiffs' Stories
The newly settled plaintiff, H Doe, said he was a preteen in the mid-1970s when Modica and another janitor, convicted child rapist Gary Sanchez, abused him on school grounds. Jayson Doe, admitted to the school at age 13 in 1978, says Modica began abusing him then. Both came forward after Richard Windmann spoke out in 2018 about abuse by Modica and deceased priest Neil Carr. Jesuit paid Windmann $450,000 in 2012 to settle claims, with a confidentiality clause he says he never requested.
Legal Context
Louisiana eliminated its time limit for childhood sexual abuse claims in 2021, allowing lawsuits regardless of when abuse occurred. The state supreme court upheld the law in June 2024. In the first trial under this law, a federal jury ordered the Holy Cross religious order to pay nearly $2.4 million in June 2025. Jesuit High School, founded in 1847, counts former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and jazz singer Harry Connick Jr. among its alumni.
For help with child abuse, contact the Childhelp hotline at 800-422-4453 or visit their website. Adult survivors can find support at ascasupport.org. In the UK, contact NSPCC at 0800 1111 or Napac at 0808 801 0331. In Australia, Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800, Bravehearts at 1800 272 831, or Blue Knot Foundation at 1300 657 380.
