MONTANA
National Catholic Reporter
May 4, 2018
by Dan Morris-Young
Terms of a negotiated $20-million payment to settle 86 sex abuse claims against the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, are scheduled to be presented in U.S. Bankruptcy Court May 8.
If approved by Judge Jim D. Pappas, the scheduled video hearing will mark the end of nearly seven years of litigation and mediation for the diocese.
Payouts to victims could begin as soon as late August, according to Ford Elsaesser, an attorney handling negotiations for the diocese with creditors.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection March 31 last year following unsuccessful efforts to address sex abuse filings from 72 plaintiffs dating to 2011.
Fourteen more claimants came forward after the bankruptcy filing. Nearly all the abuse allegations date from the 1950s through the 1990s.
While the earliest sex abuse lawsuits date to 2011, two comprehensive lawsuits each with multiple plaintiffs were filed against the diocese in 2014.
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