Catholic religious order must pay $2.4m to New Orleans clergy abuse survivor

The court’s landmark decision is the first since a state law allowing molestation survivors to pursue civil damages no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

In a historic verdict, a federal jury in New Orleans has ordered a Catholic religious order to pay nearly $2.4m in damages to a man who reported being sexually abused by one of its members in the late 1960s.

John Lousteau, 68, asserted that he was sexually abused while attending an overnight summer camp for boys at the Holy Cross school in New Orleans. He maintained that his abuser was the camp’s director, Stanley Repucci, who belonged to the Holy Cross order that ran the school.