The Hartford has offered $100 million to help resolve hundreds of sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore, becoming the first insurer to propose a settlement in the archdiocese’s nearly three-year-old bankruptcy case, court records show.
The property and casualty insurer filed the settlement proposal April 3 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland. As part of the proposed deal, The Hartford would also buy back all of the insurance policies it had issued to the archdiocese. The agreement is contingent on court approval as part of a broader bankruptcy reorganization plan.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2023, ahead of the Maryland Child Victims Act taking effect that October. That law eliminated the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse, exposing the archdiocese to claims stretching back decades.
The bankruptcy case involves 920 survivors.
Paul Jan Zdunek, chair of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents survivors, called the settlement “a central milestone” and “a significant step toward accountability and resolution,” according to the Maryland Daily Record.
Survivors are collectively seeking about $900 million from the archdiocese and its various insurers.
Earnings report
On Thursday, The Hartford reported its first quarter earnings, which disclosed a $70 million increase in general liability reserves tied to “legacy sexual molestation and sexual abuse exposures related to policies written in the 1970s and 1980s,” including a provision for a settlement in principle in a bankruptcy proceeding involving a religious institution.
Despite the charge, The Hartford reported strong overall results, with first-quarter net income of $851 million, up 36% from a year earlier.
The improvement was driven primarily by a sharp drop in catastrophe losses — from $467 million in the first quarter of 2025, when California wildfires hit hard, to $230 million this year — along with higher investment income and earned premium growth. Those gains were partially offset by higher expenses and rising group disability losses in the company’s Employee Benefits segment.
The Baltimore settlement is the latest in a series of large payouts The Hartford has made to resolve legacy sexual abuse claims tied to policies it issued decades ago. In 2021, the company agreed to pay $787 million to help settle sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America, whose policies The Hartford had issued in the 1970s.
The Boy Scouts had sued The Hartford in 2018 after the insurer initially argued its policies did not cover those claims.
