SAN DIEGO (CA)
KYMA/CBS 13/KECY [Yuma AZ]
June 15, 2024
By Dillon Fuhrman
Leaders of San Diego’s Roman Catholic Diocese have alerted parishioners and clergy that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday in order to meet the need for just compensation for victims of sexual abuse, and to continue to church’s mission.
However, some are concerned that this is a strategy to protect itself from future lawsuits and from paying survivors a fair compensation.
“The fact that these abuses ever took place is a stain on the catholic church so we have to respond to that no matter what,” said Kevin Eckery with the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.
Cardinal McElroy told community members in a letter Thursday that the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy next week.
The letter states the filing is in an effort to achieve the “settlement of approximately 450 legal claims that have been brought to the court seeking compensation of victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and lay employees over the past eight years.”
Nearly 60% of those survivors are now more than 50-year-old.
“30 years ago, 40 years ago, we made a lot of mistakes but those have to get addressed,” Eckery shared.
A national strategy
Irwin Zalkin is the attorney representing more than 100 survivors of child sexual abuse against the Catholic Church and Diocese of San Diego.
They’ve been working to get the cases to get a jury that can decide what is fair and reasonable to compensate survivors for the harm they suffered and get the cases resolved.
He says Catholic Dioceses and their insurers have adopted a national strategy to use Chapter 11 bankruptcies to resolve child sexual abuse cases in a way that reduces the compensation paid to survivors and deprives survivors from the right to trial.
“So…if they really want to do justice, then they should pay what the fair value is for the harm that was done. That’s all we can do. We can’t give people their lives back,” Zalkin expressed.
A long process
But Eckery says that’s not the case saying, “If we hadn’t filed for bankruptcy, it would be a case of maybe the first two or three cases you, know, resulted in depleting all the funds, so what are the other 450 people supposed to do?”
Zalkin says if they are unable to reach a deal, cases may have to be released from the bankruptcy back to the state court to actually go to trial and that’s a long process.
In 2007, the Diocese settled lawsuits brought by 144 sexual abuse survivors for $198 million.
Eckery says the Diocese will likely use money from their surplus property and insurance proceeds to cover the compensation for the survivors.