MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By James E. Connell Feb. 17, 2014
An attorney once told me that bankruptcy is about money, nothing else, just money, and I suspect the attorney is correct.
The Bible teaches that the love of money is the root of all evils (1 Tim 6:10), not some evils but all evils, and I hold to the veracity of this teaching.
And the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s reorganization plan recently filed in the bankruptcy court shows a desire that no sexual abuse claimant receive money. Yes, 128 claimants in category No. 9 (statute of limitations) will be paid. But about these claims the plan states that the archdiocese has “objected to” them, yet feels that successfully objecting to the claim would require “a full trial.” It’s a cut-your-losses approach. It would be cheaper to pay the claimants than to pay the trial costs.
So, to the archdiocese, no claim has merit. Is this how bankruptcies work?
Here is why this reorganization plan shatters hope.
The archdiocese went to great efforts to invite into the bankruptcy process the victims/survivors of sexual abuse “by any clergy member, teacher, deacon, employee, volunteer or other person connected with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,” as was stated on the public postings about filing a claim before the Feb. 1, 2012, “bar date.” No eligibility restrictions were mentioned. And when the archdiocese recently announced its reorganization plan, the role of eligibility restrictions was not discussed.
Yet, the reorganization plan clearly shows that eligibility restrictions are central to the archdiocese arguing that no claim has merit. Some of these restrictions are because the alleged abuse was by a member of a religious order or by a lay person. Other reasons for the dismissal of claims are the statute of limitations and the lack of proof that the archdiocese committed fraud.
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