Lawyers in Los Angeles say the Roman Catholic Church there has agreed to pay $660 million to some 500 victims of sexual abuse by priests between the 1940s and 1990s.

The settlement is by far the largest ever reached with a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

Ray Boucher, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the landmark case confirmed the settlement late Saturday. He said the plaintiffs and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will make a joint statement about the case Sunday, and will hold a news conference Monday.

Besides the money, the settlement requires the release of confidential priest personnel files, which could reveal if the archdiocese covered up past priest abuses.

The settlement with the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese will pay the plaintiffs an average of well over a million dollars each. A judge must approve the agreement, which was reached before the case was scheduled to go to trial Monday.