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Duluth Diocese May Use Mediator to Negotiate Bankruptcy

By Riham Feshir
Duluth News Tribune
December 11, 2015

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3902325-duluth-diocese-may-use-mediator-negotiate-bankruptcy

The Diocese of Duluth may negotiate its bankruptcy case outside of the courtroom.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel has encouraged the Diocese of Duluth and all parties involved, including attorneys for sex abuse victims and insurers, to work with a mediator to come to a resolution.

The Diocese of Duluth filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week. The decision comes a month after a jury ordered the diocese and a Catholic religious order to pay more than $8 million in damages to a man who was sexually abused by a priest in 1978. The diocese said it can't afford its $5 million share of the settlement and filed for bankruptcy.

Mike Finnegan, a St. Paul attorney for abuse victims who've filed lawsuits against the diocese, said mediation is a less-costly way to work through litigation when there are numerous parties involved. He did not argue against using a mediator.

"Sometimes there are things in mediation that you can do to resolve a case that you can't do necessarily through the court," he said Friday. "In a lot of the cases like this, it's something that's beneficial for all the parties involved to go into mediation."

Kressel did not officially order mediation. Finnegan said mediation sessions have not been scheduled.

Finnegan's firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, has filed about 30 claims against the Diocese of Duluth. Abuse survivors are suing the church under the Child Victims Act, a law that opened a three-year window to file claims that otherwise would have been barred under the statute of limitations.

Duluth is the 13th Roman Catholic diocesan bankruptcy in the U.S, according to BishopAccountability.org. Each one typically takes one to two years before it's resolved.

 

 

 

 

 




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