Aug. 15 deadline to file clergy sex abuse claims proposed

By Kevin Kerrigan
Guam Daily
April 2, 2019

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/aug-deadline-to-file-clergy-sex-abuse-claims-proposed/article_60a49730-5449-11e9-b643-332e59f0cbf5.html

PRESS CONFERENCE: Attorney Ford Elsaesser answers questions at a Nov. 8, 2018, press conference at the Chancery Office after a joint status hearing was held in the District Court of Guam on the sexual assault cases against the church. Photo by David Castro

An attorney for the Archdiocese of Agana has asked Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to issue an order setting a sexual abuse filing "bar date" of Aug. 15 at 5 p.m. That is the date by which any remaining sexual abuse plaintiffs must file their complaints.

In his motion, Ford Elsaesser, the bankruptcy attorney for the archdiocese, states that "the establishment of a deadline to file claims is critical" because it will allow the archdiocese to know "the universe of claims" before it.

The island's Catholic Church is facing more than 200 sexual abuse lawsuits. On average, each plaintiff is seeking $5 million in damages, which amounts to roughly $1 billion in claims.

In the face of those lawsuits, the Archdiocese of Agana on Jan. 16 filed a petition for reorganization in the District Court of Guam under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.

"A deadline to file claims," Elsaesser writes, will allow all the stakeholders to assess and review the total number of claimants and "then proceed with negotiations and mediation."

A deadline "is essential for the case to progress," Elsaesser states. Without a deadline, the archdiocese "cannot effectively move forward with mediation and negotiations with the (debtors') committee, insurance carriers, sexual abuse claimants and other parties."

Elsaesser also asks for approval of the sexual abuse claim form, which is "necessary to evaluate" each abuse claim. And he has asked for approval of "confidentiality protocols" to ensure that all plaintiffs' personal information is kept confidential – with limited "dissemination" to "necessary parties."

By mid-May, 90 days before the bar date, the archdiocese must post the deadline on its website and at all parishes. Notice of the bar date must be mailed to all plaintiffs, all hospitals in the Mariana Islands, any substance abuse agencies, the Guam Police Department, the Office of the Attorney General of Guam, the debtors' committee and other stakeholders.

Off-island groups including The Sons and Daughters of Guam in San Diego and the Chamorro Optimist Club also must be notified.

The notice must be published twice in more than two dozen listed newspapers in Guam, Saipan, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Washington state.

Anyone objecting to the deadline must due so by April 17. Objections will be considered at a hearing in District Court on May 3. If no objections are "timely filed,"  the order granting the bar date will be set "without further notice."