Arguments Scheduled in Lawsuit over Archdiocese Cemetery Funds

By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 5, 2014

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/arguments-scheduled-in-lawsuit-over-archdiocese-cemetery-funds-b99263163z1-258024941.html

Oral arguments in a lawsuit involving the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's cemetery trust funds — and two other related cases — have been scheduled for June 2 before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit was filed as part of the Archdiocese's bankruptcy.

At issue is whether forcing the archdiocese to tap its $60 million cemetery trust to fund a bankruptcy settlement would violate its free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled it would not. But U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa overturned that decision. This is an appeal of Randa's ruling.

Also on June 2, the court will hear oral arguments on:

¦ Whether Randa's purchase of plots in the archdiocese's cemeteries and the fact that he has numerous relatives buried in them constitute a conflict of interest that would bar him from ruling on issues related to the cemetery trust lawsuit.

¦ Whether Kelley erred in prohibiting a sex abuse victim with a claim in the bankruptcy from submitting information from the mediation process he entered into with the archdiocese. The survivor, who was molested by the late Father Lawrence Murphy at St. John's School for the Deaf in the 1970s, alleges that the archdiocese misrepresented, among other things, its financial position when it offered him an $80,000 settlement.