MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
Dec. 6, 2012
The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s 200-plus parishes are separate legal entities and their assets will not be consolidated with the archdiocese’s as part of its bankruptcy, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled Thursday in a major victory for the church.
But the parishes could still face separate lawsuits over more than $35 million in parish investment funds that the archdiocese moved off its books in 2005.
Kelley could decide as early as Friday whether to allow the bankruptcy creditors – including hundreds of sexual abuse victims, the archdiocese’s pension and health care funds, and others – to sue to recover at least a portion of those millions.
Attorneys for the creditors argued in a Thursday hearing that the archdiocese fraudulently transferred the money to shield it from sex abuse claims.
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