NEW YORK (NY)
Bloomberg Law [New York NY]
April 8, 2026
By James Nani
The Archdiocese of New York late last year sought authority from its insurer to discuss settling as many as 1,700 child sex abuse claims for up to $2 billion as part of high-stakes negotiations.
The Manhattan-based Catholic institution pitched the figure to Chubb Ltd. following a proposal from lead plaintiffs’ counsel representing more than 80% of claimants who sued under the state’s Child Victims Act, according to court records filed Tuesday by the insurer’s attorneys in the New York Supreme Court, New York County.
The archdiocese didn’t think a settlement demand made by claimant lawyers in November was reasonable, its attorney Jim Murray of Blank Rome LLP said in a Dec. 1 email. But he told a Chubb attorney that a global resolution was achievable at a “substantially lower dollar amount” after the church did its own analysis.
The claimants’ proposal wasn’t disclosed in court documents.
“The analysis has convinced the Archdiocese that its effort to manage its exposure through continued litigation and one off settlements is not a cost-effective way to mitigate its liability and, if current inflationary settlement and verdict trends continue, may not be sustainable,” Murray told the insurer’s lawyers in December.
The filings are part of an escalating fight between the New York archdiocese and Chubb over who must foot the bill for childhood sexual abuse claims against the church, which has become unusually vicious with accusations of secret public influence campaigns.
If a settlement approached $2 billion, it could be one of the largest single deals struck by a Catholic institution in the US stemming from allegations of child sex abuse. No deal has been reached, and the figure from December could change.
In a Dec. 23 letter, Chubb counsel Allen Burton of O’Melveny & Myers LLP said he didn’t understand the basis for the archdiocese’s request for consent to discuss “up to $2 billion.” The archdiocese only provided “severity-level categorical totals” instead of individual valuations for the more than 1,700 pending cases, and couldn’t match the church’s totals to other numbers provided during financial presentations, he said in the communication.
Attorneys for the archdiocese didn’t immediately comment Wednesday.
The court document containing discussions of the $2 billion figure was restricted from public view Wednesday after Bloomberg Law reached out to Chubb’s lawyers for comment. A Chubb spokesperson in a statement called the figure “outdated” and said it was meant to remain confidential.
“It does not accurately represent the current state of the legal proceedings or settlement discussions,” the insurer said. “We have no basis for knowing whether it reflects an accurate value of the underlying claims.”
Abuse Coverage Calculations
Insurers have accused the church of refusing to provide mediation records used to calculate claim valuations, saying they can’t consent to a settlement without the information.
The church has pushed back, citing mediation confidentiality. Insurers say they’ve already paid $60 million in legal defense costs for the archdiocese in abuse suits, while the New York institution has paid out more than $67 million to about 340 claimants.
Burton also said he was confused about how many claimants were included in some multi-plaintiff lawsuits, and that there were discrepancies over Boy Scouts of America abuse claims, for which archdiocese was seeking coverage.
“Insurers do not object to ADNY compensating deserving victims,” Burton wrote on Dec. 23 to Murray. “Of course, whether there is coverage for those claims is the subject of our declaratory relief action.”
O’Melveny attorney Daniel L. Cantor in a court filing Tuesday opposed the archdiocese’s motion to review a discovery order issued by a special master to produce mediation records, arguing the church is trying to “run out the clock” on settlement negotiations.
He accused the church of trying to keep a litigation pause in place “long enough for it to complete its ongoing mediation with CVA Plaintiffs, thereby negating the Certain Insurers’ cooperation and consent rights under the policies.”
A flood of claims against Catholic churches followed New York’s 2019 Child Victims Act, which temporarily opened a statute of limitations window that let accusers sue over decades-old abuse.
Six of the eight Catholic dioceses in New York have filed for Chapter 11 and together have been named in at least 2,800 abuse claims. Half have secured court approval of their bankruptcy plans, agreeing so far to pay at least $1 billion to victims.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has entered mediation to resolve 1,100 clergy abuse claims and has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to try to avoid bankruptcy.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024 agreed to pay $880 million for to settle more than 1,300 child sexual abuse allegations, after having already paid victims more than $740 million.
The archdiocese is also represented by Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP. Chubb is also represented by Baughman Kroup Bosse PLLC.
The case is Archdiocese of New York v. Century Indem. Co., N.Y. Sup. Ct., No. 652825/2023, letter 4/7/26.
(Adds comment from Chubb in paragraphs 10 and 11.)
To contact the reporter on this story: James Nani in New York at jnani@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Maria Chutchian at mchutchian@bloombergindustry.com; Michael Smallberg at msmallberg@bloombergindustry.com