New Orleans Clergy Abuse Plaintiff Can't Move Bankruptcy-halted Case out of Federal Court: Judge

By Ramon Antonio Vargas
NOLA.com
August 14, 2020

https://www.nola.com/news/courts/article_5969288e-de70-11ea-82a4-67a0f5e8523c.html

A federal judge has turned down a Catholic clergy sex abuse plaintiff who wanted his lawsuit, halted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ bankruptcy filing, moved back into state court so that he could continue pursuing damages.

In a nine-page ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said remanding the suit to Orleans Parish Civil District Court was “inappropriate at this time” because an automatic, indefinite halt to such cases which went into effect after the local bankruptcy church’s filing had not been lifted.

Barbier said that stay prevented the case from progressing “regardless of the forum.” And he also said he sided with the archdiocese’s arguments that it was appropriate to keep numerous unresolved clergy abuse claims against the local church in a single courthouse rather than split them into multiple ones.

The church’s financial reorganization halted more than two dozen unresolved clergy abuse lawsuits filed in Orleans Parish civil court, and those cases were transferred to the city’s federal courthouse. The plaintiff at the center of Tuesday’s ruling was a claimant who had asked that his case be sent back to state court so that it could advance following the archdiocese’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 1.

Attorneys for the plaintiff argued that his case was primarily rooted in state — not federal — law. They also questioned whether the church was simply seeking a more favorable forum.

The church’s lawyers countered that the bankruptcy court is “willing and able” to rule on the matters at the heart of the plaintiff’s case. They also bristled at the notion that the archdiocese was improperly forum shopping.

They argued the church was using Chapter 11 protection exactly how Congress intended, by moving a bankrupt organizations’ claimed debts and damages into a single forum where they can be paid out after being ruled on.

Barbier said both sides “have equitable factors that favor their respective positions,” but the church’s carried more weight with the automatic stay still in place.

The church says filing for reorganization was necessary because of financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the cost of litigating the abuse lawsuits.