MILWAUKEE (WI)
Boston Globe
ASSOCIATED PRESS FEBRUARY 14, 2014
MILWAUKEE — Bankruptcy has cost the Archdiocese of Milwaukee more than $12 million in legal fees and other expenses, and rejection of its recovery plan could force it to pay out $13 million more, its attorneys said in newly filed court documents.
The financial details were revealed in the archdiocese’s reorganization plan, filed late Wednesday night in federal bankruptcy court. The plan proposes providing $4 million to compensate an estimated 125 victims of clergy sex abuse — less than a fourth of those who filed claims — while other victims would receive therapy but no cash payment. That is the smallest per-victim payment offered by the 11 dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy in the past decade.
The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it wouldn’t have enough money if courts ruled in favor of victims who filed lawsuits. The seemingly stingy sum offered in its reorganization plan can be partly explained by a long, bitter court fight that has drained the archdiocese’s finances and its relatively unique organizational structure, which puts much church money out of reach.
In all, the archdiocese said it has spent $6.9 million on its own attorneys during bankruptcy. It estimated its creditors’ attorney costs, which bankruptcy rules require the archdiocese to pay, at nearly $5.6 million. The creditors include hundreds of sexual abuse victims along with others who are owed money.
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