MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin
Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259
In a major victory today for some 570 victim/survivors who have filed cases in federal bankruptcy court charging fraud by the Milwaukee Archdiocese in the concealment and transfer of priest child sex offenders, Judge Susan V. Kelley has ruled that three key cases the archdiocese has sought to dismiss can proceed. Because the majority of cases filed by victims are similar to the three allowed into court today, the ruling should finally bring an end to the archdiocese unprecedented two year legal attack seeking to have nearly all the cases thrown out.
Sadly, it probably won’t.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s aggressive and wasteful legal strategy has also, it was learned, cost parishioners 9 million dollars in lawyers and consultant fees. Because of this, church lawyers are today claiming that, while they themselves have billed for millions, there is no restitution available from the archdiocese for a single victim/survivor.
Listecki, who is himself a lawyer, filed for bankruptcy two years ago “to properly compensate all victim survivors.” It’s clear now he never intended these words, and has instead made a lot of other lawyers rich.
It’s doubtful that the archdiocese, which moved tens of millions of dollars off the books before filing for bankruptcy, is suddenly without resources. In fact, Listecki himself claimed before filing that the archdiocese had only 4.2 million dollars to settle cases and lawyers’ fees. He has now spent over twice that amount without settling a single case.
Kelley also has indicated that she is willing to revisit and possibly lift significant sections of the protective order placed on the 60,000 plus pages of abuse related documents now under court seal, saying she will rule on the matter soon. The documents and depositions are expected to provide the fullest picture yet of the extent of criminal behavior by scores of offender clergy against children over the past 50 years, along with the systematic efforts by Milwaukee archbishops, bishops and church officials to cover-up these crimes.
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