PINELLAS PARK (FL)
Legal Examiner – Saunders and Walker Attorney Blog
September 17, 2020
By Joseph H. Saunders
Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of New York ruled Friday that the bar date for abuse victims to submit claims should be the same day that the extended Child Victims Act expires – Aug. 14, 2021.
In making the ruling, Judge Bucki took into consideration the fluid situation involving sexual abuse claims against the beleaguered Diocese. No one knows how many claims will eventually be filed against the Diocese of Buffalo. What is known is that it takes survivors a period of time to make the decision to come forward and file a claim after having suffered in silence for years and sometimes decades.
Bucki also ruled against a request by the diocese to push the bankruptcy proceedings into mediated settlement talks.
Bucki said in his written ruling that such negotiations among the diocese, its insurers and its creditors would be premature because the diocese doesn’t know the full nature and extent of the abuse claims being brought against it and has yet to fully investigate and document historical insurance policies that were in place and might provide coverage on the claims.
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