[See also the text of the lawsuit.]

The Zalkin Law Firm P.C. has filed a 479-page lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego a Corporation Sole ( the Diocese) and every Catholic Parish in San Diego, alleging that in September of 2019, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego fraudulently transferred assets to separate parish corporations it created to avoid paying settlements or judgments in potentially hundreds of lawsuits, when the California legislature had just passed a bill opening a three year window to allow older victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits against their perpetrators and institutions like the Diocese.

In a February 9, 2023 letter to parishioners Bishop Robert Cardinal McElroy states “‘The parish assets have been held in recent years by individual parish corporations, and before that they were held by the Diocese in trust for each particular parish community.”

“The statement by Bishop…