Bankruptcy judge pushes for diocese February filing By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola Gallup Independent correspondent religion@gallupindependent.com February 22, 2016 ALBUQUERQUE – Two years ago U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma urged attorneys to get to the “end zone” in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case. On Friday, after attorneys for the diocese were not able to reach their own goal of filing a plan of reorganization the first week of February, Thuma pushed attorneys in the case to have the plan filed Feb. 29. “We are behind where we hoped to be a month ago, but things are moving along and progressing,” diocesan attorney Thomas Walker told Thuma Friday, during the latest in a series of continued status hearings. Walker said attorneys for the Gallup Diocese planned to distribute a “somewhat vetted plan” and disclosure statement to all the parties in the case next week. With the distribution, he said, the plan would be open for discussion and possible changes. “It’s still in draft form,” diocesan attorney Lori Winkelman explained. “There’s different parts that need to be discussed and are still being somewhat negotiated, but we’re hoping that everybody can move relatively quickly on that and shoot for having something on file at the end of the month. That is still our goal.” Winkelman said retired U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan, the new future claims representative, has already had discussions with many of the parties in the case. In addition, Winkelman said an “all parties call” is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon that will include “the entire universe of the settling parties” to discuss approval of a disclosure statement and other documents. Attorney James Stang, legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants, agreed the call was a good idea and will allow all the parties to “literally do a page turn” on significant documents. Stang said his committee had approved someone to be an abuse claims reviewer and had approved an allocation protocol. The committee had also offered comments to the Gallup Diocese about the last version of a settlement agreement with Catholic Mutual and still owed comments on a Franciscan settlement agreement. Thuma scheduled another status conference Friday morning and urged the attorneys to have the reorganization plan ready the following Monday. “I hope I’m not leaning on people too hard… I think it would be great to get a plan on file by the 29th,” Thuma said. “So let’s shoot for it and see if we can get it done.”

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