NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Feb. 3, 2016

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE – Attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup will not be filing a plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week as they had predicted in January.

And hopes for a finalized settlement agreement with clergy sex abuse claimants might be sabotaged by an ongoing dispute between two parties in the bankruptcy case.

The dispute, which has been the subject of vague discussions in previous hearings, spilled out into open court during a status hearing Tuesday before Judge David T. Thuma. It involves an impasse between Michael P. Murphy, the future claims representative, and Catholic Mutual, which offers liability coverage to the Gallup Diocese.

As the future claims representative, Murphy will represent anyone who might come forward in the future with a clergy sex abuse claim…