Seattle – A King County jury on Friday awarded $3.5 million in damages to a woman identified in court records as J.Z.; she was represented by Seattle child sexual abuse attorney Darrell Cochran. Jurors concluded that Seattle’s Blessed Sacrament Parish was negligent in allowing a convicted child molester to work with children at its school in the early 1950s.
After a multi-week trial in King County Superior Court, jurors rejected the parish’s central defense that the claim was too old to be brought, finding instead that the lawsuit was filed within the legally permissible time after key facts about the abuse came to light.
The verdict closes a case that drew attention to how religious institutions handled allegations of child sexual abuse decades before the issue became widely publicized.
J.Z., now in her eighties, testified that she was sexually abused as a child by Howard Eugene Polleys, who worked at Blessed Sacrament School as a tutor, coach and janitor in the early 1950s.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Polleys had a documented history of sexually abusing minors before arriving at the Seattle parish. He had previously been convicted and sentenced to prison for sexual offenses involving children in Washington State in the late 1940s.
Despite that record, the parish hired him shortly after his release on parole in 1951 and allowed him to work in close proximity to students.
Jurors heard testimony that the state parole board had raised concerns after learning that Polleys was working with children at the school. Church officials nonetheless supported his employment.
Within months, in May 1952, Polleys was arrested again after multiple children reported sexual abuse at Blessed Sacrament.
The defense argued that the parish should not be held responsible and maintained that the lawsuit was barred by the statute of limitations. In court filings, the Priory of the Blessed Sacrament denied hiring Polleys and asserted that others were responsible for supervising him.
Jurors rejected those arguments after deliberating for several hours.
In reaching their verdict, they found that Blessed Sacrament was negligent and that J.Z.’s claim was not time-barred.
Attorneys for J.Z. argued that the identity of Polleys and the extent of his criminal history were not known for decades, making it impossible for the victim to bring a claim earlier.
Blessed Sacrament Parish traces its origins to 1908, when Dominican priests were sent to establish a Catholic parish near the University of Washington to serve the growing community.
The trial focused largely on decisions made by church leaders in the early 1950s and whether they acted reasonably in allowing Polleys to work around children.
Outside the courthouse Friday afternoon, Darrell Cochran, one of the attorneys representing J.Z., said the verdict reflected the jury’s judgment about institutional responsibility.
“Today the jury made clear that institutions cannot simply look the other way when a known danger is placed around children,” Mr. Cochran said. “Blessed Sacrament chose to put a convicted child molester in a position of trust with schoolchildren. The jury understood that choice had consequences.”
J.Z. was also present for the verdict and stated “I waited a lifetime for someone to truly listen to what happened to me as a child. The jury’s decision brings a sense of peace and validation that I never thought I would see. My hope is that institutions learn from this and always put the safety of children first.”