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Attorneys for Alleged Victims Disagree on Archdiocese Bankruptcy Filing

By Joe Augustine
KAAL
January 16, 2015

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3679438.shtml?cat=10151

[with video]

The Archbishop says filing for bankruptcy protection is the best way for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to fairly address victims of sexual abuse. An attorney representing more than a hundred alleged victims says filing for bankruptcy is a necessity.

Patrick Noaker says bankruptcy allows the church to keep its failures in the shadows.

“I don't know if this process is going to be good for victims,” Noaker said Friday, shortly after the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Noaker represents John Doe 104, a 54-year-old man from Minneapolis who claims he was sexually abused by Rev. Thomas Stitts from 1972 to 1974.

Doe 104 would have been the first alleged victim of sexual abuse to go to trial since the Minnesota Child Victim’s Act made cases like this possible.

The law was passed by the state legislature in May 2013. It established a three year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims outside the old statute of limitations. The window closes May 24, 2016.

Noaker and Doe 104 were prepared to go to trial Jan. 26, in Ramsey County. Noaker says key evidence, including church documents, would have been presented during the trial proving the archdiocese failed to supervise priests, like Stitts, after being made aware of molestation claims. He expected high ranking church officials like Archbishop John Nienstedt to testify during the trial.

“This was going to be the first public trial where archdiocese officials had to sit down … swear to tell the truth, and have to sit in the witness stand without handlers, with no public relations people, and have to answer questions,” Noaker said.

That trial, and the trial for any other pending or future cases, will never happen because of Friday’s bankruptcy filing in federal court. Plaintiffs become creditors. Church officials will not testify.

“We’re very disappointed that the archdiocese filed this bankruptcy,” Noaker said.

Archbishop Nienstedt says the decision to file for bankruptcy is the best option to resolve victims’ claims.

“This is not an attempt to silence victims nor is it an attempt to deny them their justice in court; on the contrary, we want to respond positively in compensating them for their suffering,” Nienstedt said.

Another high-profile attorney who has filed 128 claims of sexual abuse against the archdiocese on behalf of alleged victims, including 16 lawsuits that will not be argued in a courtroom, agreed with the decision to file for Chapter 11.

“This action taken today is actually necessary,” Jeff Anderson said. Anderson plans to work with the archdiocese “in a way that can bring healing” compensation for victims, and advance change in the church.

Anderson says they will continue to release files and names of sexual abusers.

“This (bankruptcy) filing today does not stop that,” Anderson said.

 

 

 

 

 




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