SPOKANE (WA)
The Oregonian
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
SPOKANE -- Lawyers representing people not covered by a proposed settlement in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy have filed an alternative method of paying victims of clergy sexual abuse.
The proposal filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court would assess individual parishes nearly two-thirds of the market value of their churches and schools in exchange for avoiding possible foreclosures.
The alternative payment plan was filed by creditors' committees representing sex-abuse victims left out of the diocese's settlement offer, in which 75 claimants would be paid a total of $45.7 million.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams could decide as early as this week whether the diocese settlement offer is legally acceptable.
Competing plans are not unusual in large bankruptcies, but only one reorganization plan can be accepted.