MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter
Marie Rohde | May. 8, 2015
MILWAUKEE Lawyers representing the Milwaukee archdiocese in bankruptcy proceedings indicated that they will continue to play hardball to protect some or all of more than $55 million that the archdiocese shifted into a trust fund for the care of nine cemeteries it operates.
Francis LoCoco, the lead lawyer for the archdiocese, said during a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday that if the judge rules against maintaining the cemetery trust as he said the other side wants, the subsequent litigation could be protracted.
“Let’s spend the money,” LoCoco said. “Let’s litigate the cemetery trust [issue] completely. Candidly, at that point it becomes cheaper, more efficient and easier to us to litigate every abuse survivor claim. … [Do] they want us to start sending dozens and dozens of notices to every single abuse survivor and their family members and their doctors?”
In March, a federal appellate court ruled that the cemetery trust fund was not protected by the First Amendment or the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy was filed nearly four and a half years ago and has accrued at least $16 million and perhaps more than $20 million in legal fees. A dozen lawyers representing the archdiocese, several insurance companies, the cemetery trust and Archbishop Jerome Listecki were in court for Wednesday’s hearing; nine other out-of-state lawyers joined via telephone conference call.
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