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	More Legal Skirmishing in San Diego Bankruptcy Case Catholic World News August 3, 2007 http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=52748 San Diego (CA) — San Diego, Aug. 3, 2007 (CWNews.com) - In an unusual legal maneuver, lawyers representing the San Diego, California, diocese in US bankruptcy court have asked for a federal judge to estimate the potential value of claims by sex-abuse victims. Judge Louise DeCarl Adler, who is presiding over the bankruptcy case for the San Diego diocese, has said that she will not make any determination on the damages that should be paid to abuse victims. That matter must be weighed by other courts, Judge Adler has said, if the parties cannot reach an out-of-court settlement. Lawyers for the abuse victims involved in the case have asked for a California district court to set trial dates, putting added pressure on the diocese to reach a settlement before an open trial, at which damaging information could become public. In response, diocesan lawyers filed papers on August 2 asking for a federal district court to provide an estimate of the damages. In explaining their legal maneuver, diocesan attorneys said that they are looking for another chance to challenge a California law, enacted in 2002, that extends the statute of limitations for crimes involving sexual abuse. The diocese has already challenged the constitutionality of that law twice, in both cases unsuccessfully.
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