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  More Claims of Abuse Filed against Bankrupt Portland Archdiocese
The 90, Who Seek Nearly $71 Million, Meet the Deadline for All Claims in the Reorganization Case

By Steve Woodward
The Oregonian [Portland OR]
April 30, 2005

More than 90 new people, all of whose identities are shielded from public exposure, have come forward with claims against the bankrupt Archdiocese of Portland. Details of the claims are confidential, although most are presumed to have been possible victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The claimants join 83 known others who have filed sex-abuse claims as of Friday, the deadline for all claims in the church's Chapter 11 reorganization case.

The new claimants seek nearly $71 million, bringing the total dollar amount of claims to more than half a billion dollars.

That total may rise significantly, because only 26 of the new claimants listed dollar amounts with their claims.

All of the sex-abuse claims now will go to mediation, with the first group beginning Aug. 8.

The archdiocese, which includes 124 Roman Catholic parishes in Western Oregon, declared bankruptcy July 6 last year as it faced a growing wave of sex-abuse lawsuits. The largest lawsuit, which asked for $135 million in damages for abuse allegedly perpetrated by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond, was set to go to jury trial on the day of the bankruptcy filing.

In commercial and property claims not related to sex abuse but tied to the bankruptcy, records show that about 300 claims -- ranging from water bills to office supplies -- have been filed as of Wednesday, the latest day for which data are available. The number is expected to grow as the court-approved claims processor, BMC Group of El Segundo, Calif., processes the latest claims.

Those claimants included more than 60 parishioners of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Dunes, in Florence.

Earlier this year, Ken Janowski, head of the fundraising committee at St. Mary, said the parish has raised $1.9 million in pledges toward the $2.2 million estimated cost of an expansion designed to cover the parish's needs for the next 50 to 100 years.

"Everything was going fine," Janowski said, after a series of bumps involving wetlands protection, county permits and soil problems, among others. As the church prepared to put the project out for bid, the archdiocese declared bankruptcy. "The day after the bankruptcy was announced, every contractor said, 'We don't want to touch this (project) with a 10-foot pole,' " Janowski said. " 'We don't know if you'll ever get that money back.' "

"All we want is our money back," Janowski said.

 
 

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