MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 7, 2015
Insurance companies have paid up to 85 percent of abuse settlements nationally. They’re the invisible, powerful players.
The $45 million listed as assets by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis does not count a critical but invisible “asset” still being determined — the value of its insurance.
Dusty policies stored in church archives and basements have played a huge role in clergy abuse settlements nationally. Insurance covered two-thirds of the $75 million archdiocese bankruptcy settlement in Portland, Ore., for example, and $19 million of the $37 million bankruptcy settlement in Davenport, Iowa.
With the stakes so high, coverage also is fiercely contested, as evidenced by the archdiocese’s lawsuit against 20-some insurers to try to force them to cover their liabilities for clergy abuse claims.
As the archdiocese and its creditors enter their third week of bankruptcy court mediation, attorneys for the insurance companies are the biggest group entering the doors of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.