MILWAUKEE (WI)
Courthouse News Service
By JACK BOUBOUSHIAN
CHICAGO (CN) – The Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s $55 million cemetery trust fund is not off limits to claims filed by clergy sex abuse victims against the church’s bankruptcy estate, the 7th Circuit ruled.
The archdiocese declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, declaring that it did not have the funds to pay the amounts sought by clergy sexual abuse victims in court.
It proposed a bankruptcy reorganization plan that would give 128 victims $4 million, but leave 450 other claimants with nothing.
However, the archdiocese transferred $55 million out of its general fund, and earmarked the money for the upkeep of cemeteries, claiming it was off-limits to creditors.
A creditors’ committee composed of abuse victims protested this move in court, asserting that this one-time transfer of $55 million was a blatant attempt to prevent victims from recovering money from the archdiocese.
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