Archdiocese of Milwaukee Making Good Its "Spend down" Threat to Prevent Restitution to Victims of Clergy Sex Abuse

SNAP
July 7, 2015

http://www.snapnetwork.org/

Archbishop Listecki filing expensive and pointless appeal to US Supreme Court, deposing victims, and piling up the legal fees

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)

CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Making good on their verbal threat in open court to “spend down” the remaining money left in their estate to prevent 575 victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from receiving restitution, lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to overturn a Federal 7th Circuit’s decisive ruling that a fraudulent “Cemetery Trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now Cardinal of New York, was not “protected” by federal religious laws or the first amendment and can be used to compensate survivors.

A few weeks ago the archdiocese had already started carrying out its threat by randomly deposing and, of course, re-traumatizing victims, putting survivors through hours of questioning by church lawyers fishing for reasons to file yet more pointless briefs and run up expensive bills. So far, lawyers’ fees and court costs are soaring near $20 million dollars while Listecki has begrudgingly offered $4 million dollars, total, for all rape victims, less than $7,000 dollars per survivor.

In today’s filing, Listecki again legally howls the discredited excuses of “religious freedom” and “first amendment rights”. Clearly these rights are not enshrined in our constitution for bishops, or anyone else, to cover up sex crimes, as if child rape is no one’s business but their own. What matters is not winning the brief (they won’t). What matters is that it will be expensive, create more delays, and pile up legal fees so there is no money left for survivors. You might as well move the Sunday collection plate over to the lawyers’ offices or, perhaps, the country club. The later location might be easier since, as Listecki wrote in a recent column in the Catholic paper, he will be getting in as much golf in as he can this summer. In the meantime, hundreds of victims are languishing through years of bankruptcy without help, much less justice.

When filing for bankruptcy over four and a half years ago Listecki urged victims to come forward for “restitution, healing and resolution.” Since then, however, he has claimed that none of these 575 victims, not a single one, has a legitimate case. Isn’t it pretty clear by now that Listekci filed the bankruptcy in utter bad faith and breech of promise to victims? Rather, the bankruptcy was filed to prevent restitution to victims by deploying the federal bankruptcy system and so called “religious freedom” to shield Listecki, Dolan and dozens of child sex offenders from the consequences of their criminal conduct and cover-ups.

Dolan wrote to the Vatican when he sought permission to create his bogus cemetery trust that he was creating it to prevent US courts from compensating victims of priest sex abuse. Since then, it has been shown the archdiocese has at least $300 million dollars available for victim restitution. But so far the archdiocese appears to have found a means to buy their way of justice, in plain sight, for everyone to see. Again.