Delivering an historic verdict that could ripple through the religious and legal communities, a jury in Morristown awarded $5 million in compensatory damages Wednesday to a former Delbarton School student stemming from a sexual assault at the prestigious Catholic prep school in 1976.

The jury at the Morris County Courthouse was unanimous in determining the assault had occured but found the order of Benedictine monks that operates Delbarton was not negligent for allowing the Rev. Richard Lott to commit the abuse.

Nonetheless, jurors detemined Lott to be 35% liabile for the damages suffered by the plaintiff, who was 15 at the time of the incident, and the order to be 65% liable.

The five-week-long trial is not over. Jurors will reconvene on Tuesday to determine whether the Order of St

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