An Alameda County jury on April 23, 2026, returned a $16 million verdict against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland in one of six bellwether cases selected to proceed toward trial after the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 [1][2]. Plaintiff's counsel described the verdict as "the first case to reach a jury verdict under the California Child Victims Act," a 2019 statute that opened a three-year window for alleged abuse victims to file claims outside standard limitations periods [2]. Until the bankruptcy court acted, the case had been among hundreds placed on hold; a bankruptcy judge subsequently allowed six of those lawsuits to advance so the parties could gauge jury reactions and potentially accelerate an all-encompassing settlement [2].
The jury ordered the award to a former Union City altar boy, now a 61-year-old father of four, who alleged he was molested twice in 1975 by priest Stephen Kiesle during church sleepovers [1]. Kiesle had pleaded no contest in 1978 to lewd conduct involving two boys, receiving probation; in the early 2000s he was sentenced to six years in prison on a separate charge of molesting a girl near Sacramento [2]. At trial, the plaintiff testified under the pseudonym John Doe, presenting claims of negligent supervision and retention against the diocese. The jury allocated $12 million to past non-economic damages and $4 million to future non-economic damages [2]. The verdict carried no punitive component.
Plaintiff's lead counsel, Rick Simons of Silver & Simons, noted that at least 60 cases are linked to Kiesle alone, with hundreds more tied to the diocese overall [1]. Simons characterized the proceeding as a "test trial" and stated that the $16 million verdict could affect future settlements across the still-pending docket [1]. As of the verdict, the abuse victims' committee had demanded $314.1 million from the diocese and a related schools corporation, while the diocese's most recent offer stood at $180 million, plus $44.3 million from insurers, leaving the parties materially far apart [2].
The next bellwether trial could begin in the coming months, with both sides still distant from a global resolution [2]. Because the diocese remains in Chapter 11, actual payment on the verdict will depend on available insurance coverage and the outcome of the broader bankruptcy proceeding. Plaintiff's counsel called on the diocese to increase its per-victim settlement offers substantially, noting that prior offers had ranged into only the hundreds of thousands of dollars per claimant [2].
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