NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal
By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 17th, 2016
The Diocese of Gallup threatened to withdraw a monetary settlement that included $21 million for victims of clerical sexual abuse if claimants insisted that the church publicly release the personnel files of accused priests, attorneys for the claimants said.
Public disclosure of priest files became a “significant issue” during the final months of the diocese’s 31-month bankruptcy case, said James Stang, a Los Angeles attorney who represented the 57 people who filed claims against the diocese.
“We asked that (the files) be published or be delivered so we could publish them if we wanted to, and they said no,” Stang said. “We were told that it was a package deal.”
Faced with the possibility of losing the financial settlement after more than two years of legal wrangling, a committee representing claimants in the case felt they had little choice but to withdraw their demand for records, he said.
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