BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Post
October 3, 2023
By Fredrick Kunkle
The ruling was in response to a request by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which filed for Chapter 11 on Friday.
A federal bankruptcy court Tuesday temporarily blocked sexual abuse lawsuits against parishes, schools or other entities related to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Child sexual assault survivors said the ruling further thwarts a new state law intended to give them greater latitude to sue institutions that harbored their abusers.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michelle M. Harner issued the ruling in response to a request from the archdiocese. Archbishop William Lori filed for Chapter 11 on Friday, two days before the Maryland Child Victims Act took effect. The law eliminates the civil statute of limitations that once required many child victims of sexual assault to have filed lawsuits by their early 20s. The new law affords them the right to file civil lawsuits at any time against their alleged abusers and institutions that may have harbored the abusers.
But under federal bankruptcy law, the archdiocese was shielded from such lawsuits once it sought protection from its creditors, and it asked the court to halt sexual abuse lawsuits against 153 parishes, schools and other related organizations that it says are separate from the archdiocese but shared a common insurer.
Otherwise, the archdiocese’s attorneys said Tuesday, the ability of its insurance policies to pay the claims could be depleted early because of duplicative requests.
Child sexual abuse victims who want to seek damages from parishes, schools and other entities related to the archdiocese can still file claims through the bankruptcy court.
The ruling raised suspicion and intensified anger among survivors, who already felt the Baltimore Archdiocese had betrayed them by filing for bankruptcy.
Critics also said that, unlike the Child Victims Act, the bankruptcy filing effectively sets a date by which victims have to file their claims.
“I can’t get beyond that, in essence, the bankruptcy from the church has undone the Child Victims Act that we worked for 21 years to pass,” said survivor Teresa Lancaster, who stood in the courtroom at the invitation of plaintiffs’ attorney Gordon Novod.
Lancaster, who was sexually assaulted by Father Joseph Maskell in the late 1960s when he was her counselor at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, said the decision to file for bankruptcy only deepened skepticism about the archdiocese’s intentions. Unlike in a civil trial, in a bankruptcy case there will be no subpoenas or public testimony before a jury, which for some survivors is a blow to transparency.Share this articleShare
“It does deny survivors their day in court, their chance to get up and tell exactly what happened. That hurt — it is a gut punch,” she said. “We do get tell our story, but to what extent?”
The judge also granted the archdiocese’s request to seal certain parts of the proceedings to protect the confidentiality of victims as well as the identities of current church employees who played no role in the scandal but could become subject to threats.
Blake Roth, one of the attorneys for the archdiocese, tried to allay concerns that sealing parts of the proceedings would allow abusers to escape justice. Instead, he said, the request is part of a broader attempt to conduct an orderly, cooperative reorganization between the church and its victims, he said. “These are not to protect the church. They are to protect the survivors,” he said.
During the hearing, Harnertook pains to reassure survivors that the bankruptcy proceedings would be transparent and fair and that all victims would be heard. Contrary to popular belief that bankruptcy filings allow debtors to hide their assets and minimize their debts, the judge said, bankruptcy proceedings allow for transparency and consultation of creditors.
“They’re operating in a fish bowl,” she said.
At Novod’s invitation, and with the judge’s permission, four survivors stood for a moment to be recognized by the court.
Harner also grantedroutine motions to ensure that utilities aren’t shut off and that church employees’ salaries and wages will be paid, to keep the institution running as it sorts through hundreds of expected claims for damages from alleged victims. The judge also let the archdiocese hire Epiq, a company with experience in administering bankruptcy claims and sending formal notice to litigants. Epiq also maintains a public website for the bankruptcy case.
Erin Cox and Michelle Boorstein contributed to this report.