Delbarton warns huge damages could kill the school as jury weighs punishment

The same civil jury that last week awarded $5 million to a Delbarton School graduate who said he was molested by a monk in 1976 returned to Superior Court in Morristown on Tuesday to decide whether to impose punitive damages against the former monk and the Benedictine order that runs the Morris Township prep school.

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Jurors must determine if former monk Richard Lott and the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey (OSBNJ) should be punished — and at what cost — for conduct the plaintiff’s lawyers described as decades of sexual misconduct and institutional cover-ups.

Superior Court Judge Louis Sceusi told the jury this phase carries a higher standard of proof than the first trial, requiring “clear and convincing evidence” to justify punishment and deterrence. “The issue here is what have they done to protect students,” Sceusi said to attorneys sparring over admissibility of evidence.

Last week’s verdict was an historic first, ahead of dozens of child sex abuses cases filed since a 2019 state law briefly lifted the statute of limitations.

A QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Lawyer Michael Geibelson, representing the plaintiff identified as T.M., told jurors their task is to decide an amount that will punish and deter future misconduct.

His colleague, lead attorney Rayna Kessler, spent much of Tuesday afternoon playing excerpts from video depositions of Lori Albanese, OSBNJ’s case manager for child sex abuse matters.

In her sworn statements from 2021 and 2025, Albanese testified Delbarton had no policies for handling sexual abuse allegations prior to 2002, though she acknowledged the Catholic Church’s 1917 canon law listed such behavior as criminal. She said the Church’s mission was to lead people to salvation, not harm them.

Albanese’s testimony recounted instances in which Delbarton abbots allegedly destroyed evidence or failed to investigate complaints about monks accused of abuse. The late Abbot Brian Clarke, who received T.M.’s 1977 letter reporting Lott’s alleged assault, admitted later destroying the letter to protect T.M.’s identity and the school’s reputation — actions Albanese said violated Abbey rules prohibiting destruction of records.

Clarke questioned Lott about the allegation, and Lott denied the abuse but admitted being homosexual and having sexual relations with young men, according to testimony. But there is no record showing Clarke attempted to learn whether any of those young men were minors, Albanese said. Clarke granted Lott a year’s leave in 1978 without restricting his contact with minors; it would take nearly 30 years for OSBNJ to formally dismiss him.

Other monks also were allowed to continue serving after credible abuse allegations, Albanese acknowledged. Clarke approved an assignment for Father Timothy Brennan in the Diocese of Trenton without disclosing Brennan’s sex-abuse conviction. Brennan admitted to abusing dozens of boys and was the subject of at least 10 settlements before his death in 2019 in a Missouri rehab center for clerics.

When asked Tuesday if Clarke’s name should be stripped from Delbarton’s gym, Abbot Jonathan Licari testified that was up to the headmaster and trustees.

Depositions suggested Delbarton leaders emphasized the suffering of accused clerics rather than victims. One abbot, the Rev. Giles Hayes, welcomed back the late Donal Fox, an accused monk, as “a marvelous exemplar of conversion.” Another attorney for Delbarton, also now deceased, allegedly misled prosecutors by claiming Fox merely had an alcohol problem.

“You can love the sinner but hate the sin,” Albanese said in one of her sworn statements.

‘UNFORTUNATE BYPRODUCT OF A LACK OF STANDARDS’

Defense attorney Kurt Krauss argued that the jury already determined last week that OSBNJ did not knowingly allow or acquiesce in Lott’s abuse. He said the incident was “an unfortunate byproduct of a lack of standards” in 1976, when few educational institutions had procedures for handling such complaints.

Krauss contended there was no “willful and wanton disregard” or “reckless disregard” to justify punitive damages. He said the plaintiff’s lawyers were “throwing mud on the wall” by relying on testimony from long-dead individuals and that T.M. was motivated by money.

It’s not fair to penalize today’s Delbarton employees, families, and students, Krauss said. He noted Delbarton now meets the nation’s highest standards — as the only New Jersey school accredited by Praesidium — and warned that large damages could endanger $4.6 million in financial aid to 139 students, threatening the school’s diversity.

The Rev. Michael Tidd, Delbarton’s headmaster, testified that the “first thing we would cut is financial aid” if punitive damages are imposed. He and Abbot Licari, who leads OSBNJ, said they remain disappointed in last week’s verdict. Licari continued to describe the 1976 abuse as an “alleged” incident.

“Our corporate position is the event did not take place,” Tidd said, adding that “reasonable people can disagree.”

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Tidd said OSBNJ’s assets have grown from $7.4 million in 1976 to $167 million today, though two-thirds are non-liquid holdings such as land and buildings. The 187-acre campus itself could be at risk if punitive damages are large enough to require selling property, he testified. “Then we would go out of business,” he said.

Lott, now 89, was described as having $381,000 in assets, and a reverse mortgage on his home. He told jurors he took that loan to cover legal bills and house maintenance. His lawyer, Mark Brancato, said Lott already faces $1.5 million in personal liability from last week’s award and argued that no further penalty is warranted.

Abbot Licari reiterated his view that the $5 million verdict was not “fair or reasonable.”

“We are still extremely disappointed in the verdict in this trial,” he said.

A HIGHER STANDARD

Judge Sceusi reminded jurors that punitive damages are meant to punish and deter — not to compensate. They must decide, by “clear and convincing evidence,” whether Lott and the Benedictine order acted with the degree of malice or disregard that warrants punishment beyond last week’s $5 million award.

The punitive phase is expected to continue through the week.

Delbarton warns huge damages could kill the school as jury weighs punishment
October 15, 2025
Kevin Coughlin
MorristownGreen.com