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Article Category: 2007 February
Description: Settlement - The Spokane Diocese's bankruptcy plan affects the proposed deal
Article originally prepared on : 05 February 2007
SPOKANE -- About half of a proposed $48 million settlementwould go to victims of clergy sexual abuse while lawyers getthe rest, according to a bankruptcy plan filed by theCatholic Diocese of Spokane.
The diocese's 92-page disclosure statement in U.S.Bankruptcy Court said bankruptcy lawyers are owed about $7million, leaving a $41 million pool to pay victims and theirlawyers.
Although the diocese plans to make available $48 million bythe end of this year in the form of promissory notes,claimants will receive far less than that, said MichaelRoss, an abuse victim who sued the diocese.
That's because individuals who retained lawyers torepresent them in the bankruptcy will owe their attorneys 40percent to 50 percent of whatever settlement portion theyreceive, Ross said.
When lawyer fees and other expenses are deducted, people whomade claims figure to split about $22 million, Ross said. Hesaid most victims have not seen the diocese's proposal.
"We didn't ask for this bankruptcy. This was notour idea. It was Bishop Skylstad's idea," he said."We wanted to go to court. Bishop Skylstad changed thegame plan" by filing for bankruptcy protection.
For the first time, the court documents detail the scope ofabuse by priests and nuns in the diocese, dating back as faras the 1940s, but mostly in the 1960s and 1970s.
The court documents show that 208 individual sex abuseclaims were filed against the diocese, but 24 of those wereduplicates or disallowed by the court.
The diocese has reached settlements with 36 victims and oneclaim was filed for potential victims who make claims in thefuture. The disclosure statement said $1 million is setaside for future claims.
That leaves about 147 claims that qualify for payments underthe diocese's settlement offer, the documentsindicated.
If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams approves thereorganization plan, the victims would vote whether toaccept or reject it. They would also vote on which of fivepayment plans they prefer.
In its disclosure statement, the diocese urged victims tovote for the reorganization plan.
Molly Harding, a leader of the Spokane chapter of SNAP, anational advocacy and support group of people abused byclergy, said victims are angry that so much of thesettlement pool is going to pay lawyers.
But people who sued the church did so more to find out aboutthe conduct of church officials who failed to act on reportsof abuse than to get compensation, she said.
"They filed it to get to the truth and have open andtransparent disclosure. That hasn't happenedhere," she said.
A mediated settlement reached last month calls for Skylstadto publicly support eliminating statutes of limitations onchild sex crimes and apologize to victims and theirfamilies.
But SNAP complains the settlement does not require Skylstadto make public diocesan records about abusive priests.
"We'd like something separate. We would like tosee the diocese, on its own volition, turn over alldocuments and start over," said Ross, who also is aSpokane SNAP leader. "So they can say, 'We didcome clean and we are interested in transparent and fulldisclosure,' which Bishop Skylstad has promised us fromthe start.
"It has happened in other dioceses," he said."There's no reason that can't happenhere."
Shawn Cross, a Spokane lawyer representing the diocese, saidbankruptcy laws prohibit lawyers from advocating aparticular plan. But he said the settlement reached inmediation was approved by lawyers representing all sides.
The statement said the diocese already has reachedsettlements totaling $614,800 with 29 people, while anotherseven settled tort claims for a total of about $1.13million.
The disclosure statement is the subject of a March 8hearing, while Williams has scheduled an April 24-25 hearingto confirm the diocese's reorganization plan, a crucialstep for ending the case that has stretched over two years.
Lawyers for the diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection inDecember 2004.
The settlement money would come from nearly $20 million ininsurance settlements, $18 million from the sale of thebishop's office building and other assets andcontributions from other Catholic entities; and $10 millionfrom the diocese's 82 parishes.
The diocese serves about 90,000 Catholics in 13 EasternWashington counties.
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