July 12, 2005

Diocese to pay $10 million upfront to sex-abuse victims as bankruptcy plan OK'd

TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen

SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen

By mid-September, about 50 checks ranging from $15,000 to $600,000 will be in the mail to victims of sexual abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. More than $22 million has been set aside to cover claims.

A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday approved the diocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan after a nearly daylong hearing.

Initially, about $10 million will be paid to 45 victims and to five of their relatives. Five settlements with other victims are pending.

The plan approved by Judge James Marlar will set up a fund for victims who may come forward later. About a dozen are expected to come forward.

The historic action by Marlar makes the diocese the first in the nation to emerge from bankruptcy after a pedophilia scandal.

The plan calls for the diocese's 74 parishes to contribute $2 million to the settlement fund, which totals about $22.2 million.

Posted by kshaw at July 12, 2005 06:22 AM