November Court Date Set for Arguments in Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy Plan

WHBL
May 8, 2015

http://whbl.com/news/articles/2015/may/07/november-court-date-set-for-arguments-in-milwaukee-archdiocese-bankruptcy-plan/

A court hearing has finally been scheduled on a plan by the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese to get out of bankruptcy.

Judge Susan Kelley says she'll hear arguments in November on the church's plan to keep its 200-plus parishes and schools running, while compensating victims of previous sex abuse by priests.

The 10-county archdiocese originally proposed $4 million in compensation for 128 abuse victims -- just over a quarter of the 575 victims who filed claims in the nearly four-and-a-half year old bankruptcy case.

The matter has been held up by legal issues -- including the church's effort to protect $66 million in church cemetery upkeep funds.

A federal appeals court reversed a judge's ruling that the cemetery fund was off limits to the creditors -- and the archdiocese now says it will set aside an undisclosed amount for the abuse victims.

Meanwhile, several legal questions are still up in the air. One involves the church's plan to use insurance funds to pay creditors.

The insurers have said they would need to protect individual parishes and schools from future lawsuits with a waiver. The creditors say the judge doesn't have the power to order that.