Jesuit High School of New Orleans has quietly struck a seven-figure deal to end a lawsuit accusing school employees of sexually abusing a child on campus in the 1970s, sidestepping a trial that had been set to begin on June 15, 2026.
The settlement agreement was filed in court just days before jury selection, effectively slamming the brakes on what could have been a bruising public trial for one of the city’s most prominent Catholic schools.
A letter entered into the case record announced the deal, according to WWLTV, which reported that the settlement came together in the final runup to the June trial date. Plaintiffs’ attorney Richard Trahant has not disclosed the exact amount, and WWLTV notes that lawyers for Jesuit and the religious order that runs the school did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Claims Reach Back To Jesuit’s 1970s Mid-City Campus
The lawsuit is one of several tied to allegations that janitors on Jesuit’s Mid-City campus sexually abused boys in the 1970s. Court filings single out the late Pete Modica, who had earlier admitted to molesting boys in the early 1960s, according to reporting by The Advocate.
Previous reporting and court records show this is not the first time the school and the religious order have paid out over abuse allegedly tied to that era. They resolved earlier claims, including a $450,000 payment to one alleged victim in 2012, The Advocate has documented.
Depositions Flag Deleted Emails And More Accused Staff
Plaintiffs’ evidence in this latest case went beyond decades-old memories. Filings and sworn testimony include allegations that the Rev. Christopher Fronk, while serving as Jesuit’s president, deleted virtually all of his emails. Witnesses and officials also identified multiple colleagues as credibly accused of abuse, according to deposition transcripts.
Those assertions surfaced in the pretrial discovery phase and were laid out in depositions and court papers that plaintiffs planned to present to a jury, WWLTV reported.
Louisiana’s Legal Shift Turns Up The Heat
The settlement does not arrive in a vacuum. Louisiana’s recent legal shifts have reopened the door for survivors who thought their cases were legally dead years ago, reviving long-dormant allegations and encouraging people to sue alleged abusers from decades past.
State action to reopen a so-called lookback window, which allows older claims to proceed despite expired statutes of limitation, has given survivors a second shot at civil justice, as described by Lamothe Law Firm.
Recent jury verdicts have also sent a clear financial message. In 2025, a federal jury hit the Holy Cross religious order with a nearly $2.4 million damages award in a New Orleans clergy abuse case, increasing the pressure on schools and religious institutions to settle rather than roll the dice at trial, according to The Guardian.
What This Deal Delivers, And What It Avoids
For the survivor in this case, the seven-figure settlement closes a painful chapter without the ordeal of testifying in open court and reliving childhood abuse in front of a jury.
For Jesuit High School and the religious order that oversees it, the deal heads off the unpredictable spectacle of a public trial, which could have aired internal records, emails and witness testimony that might haunt the institution long after a verdict.
Attorneys who represent abuse survivors say Louisiana’s expanded window for older claims has been critical to securing both compensation and a measure of accountability. Legal observers point to the recent high-dollar verdicts as a cautionary tale for institutions that decide to fight these cases in court rather than negotiate at the settlement table, a trend also noted by Lamothe Law Firm.
What Comes Next For Jesuit And Other Survivors
This settlement takes one case off the docket, but it does not erase the underlying allegations or the other lawsuits that trace back to the same time period. Plaintiffs’ attorneys say additional litigation is still moving forward in the courts.
Past reporting by The Advocate details earlier payouts and the long-running effort by survivors to force institutions to confront abuse they say was ignored or buried for decades. With Louisiana’s legal window now pried back open, this seven-figure deal is unlikely to be the last word on Jesuit’s troubled past.
