Bankruptcy judge to consider diocese claims deadline

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Gallup Independent
March 19, 2014

http://gallupindependent.com/

ALBUQUERQUE — It’s been more than four months since the Diocese of Gallup filed its petition for Chapter 11 reorganization, and the case is beginning to move toward establishing a deadline for claims filed by victims of clergy sex abuse.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge David T. Thuma ruled last week, allowing the Gallup Diocese to extend its exclusive period to file a plan of reorganization an additional 180 days. The new deadline is Sept. 8. Thuma is expected to rule in April on a motion to set a bar date for claims against the Gallup Diocese. “The purpose of a bar date is to provide a definitive cut-off date, so that the total number and amount of claims against a debtor’s estate can be calculated, the estate divided, and the debts discharged,” the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney Susan G. Boswell said in her motion requesting the court set the claims deadline.

In Boswell’s motion, which also includes proposed claims forms for abuse victims and other claimants, public notice plans, and press releases, the Diocese of Gallup is requesting Thuma set a 120-period for claimants to file. In addition to clergy sex abuse survivors, possible claimants include trade creditors, vendors and other persons or businesses that provided the diocese with goods or services.

The Gallup Diocese proposes to publicize the bar date and give notice across New Mexico and Arizona by submitting public service announcements, press releases and paid advertisements to newspapers and radio stations in both states. It also proposes to publicize the bar date through notices at Catholic parishes, post offices, federal public health centers, other federal agencies, Navajo chapter houses and Native American cultural centers.

An important provision of the proposed claim form also includes a penalty for filing a fraudulent claim against the diocese: a fine of up to $500,000 or imprisonment for five years, or both.

According to Boswell, the diocese is “attempting to reach as many potential claimants as possible, taking into account the unique issues and challenges with the geographic area” of the Diocese of Gallup. The diocese includes parishes in six counties in western New Mexico, three counties in Arizona and seven Native American reservations. The majority of Catholics in the diocese are Hispanic or Anglo, and the majority of abuse survivors known to the media are Hispanic.

The diocese is also proposing to work with the Unsecured Creditors Committee, which represents the interests of clergy abuse survivors, to set up a toll free number for abuse claimants to call and access a translator who speaks Spanish or Navajo. Although the diocese has parishes that serve Native Catholics who are members of the White Mountain Apache, Jicarilla Apache, Acoma, Hopi, Laguna and Zuni tribes, Boswell said the diocese has not been successful finding translators in those languages.

The deadline to file objections to the diocese’s motion is March 31, and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 9.