New Orleans Archdiocese reaches $179 million sex abuse settlement
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has reached a tentative $179 million settlement to resolve over 600 sex abuse claims in its bankruptcy.
The settlement, which must still be voted on by abuse survivors before it can be approved in bankruptcy court, would resolve one of the longest-running Catholic bankruptcies in the U.S. The Archdiocese, which serves 505,000 Catholics, filed for bankruptcy in New Orleans in 2020.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond said in a Wednesday letter that the settlement "offers a path to healing for survivors and for our local church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans," although he cautioned that there is "much work to be done" before it is finalized in court.
The settlement was negotiated by a committee that was appointed in bankruptcy court to represent people who allege they were abused by clergy. The committee said that the $179.2 million deal was "more than 20 times the Archdiocese's initial settlement estimate when its bankruptcy case was filed in May 2020."
Not all abuse survivors are happy with the deal. The non-profit advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Thursday said that survivors should vote against it and hold out for a better offer.
"Survivors deserve better — and they deserve far more," said Davn McNevin, SNAP's treasurer and a survivor a clergy abuse.
Several Catholic dioceses in the U.S. have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, spurred by state laws, opens new tab that allowed new lawsuits to be filed based on decades-old instances of sexual abuse. Louisiana passed such a law in 2021.
Recent settlements in Catholic bankruptcies include a New York diocese that agreed to pay $320 million to 600 sex abuse survivors and a New Jersey diocese that agreed to pay $87.5 million to about 300 survivors. The Los Angeles Archdiocese, the largest diocese in the U.S., agreed to pay $880 million to over 1,353 abuse victims, without filing for bankruptcy.
The case is In Re: The Roman Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 20-10846
For the Archdiocese: Jones Walker LLP
For the creditors committee: Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones; Troutman Pepper Locke LLP
Read more:
Judge approves New York Catholic diocese's $320 mln sex abuse deal
Los Angeles Archdiocese reaches $880 million sex abuse settlement
Boy Scouts, Catholic dioceses find haven from sex abuse suits in bankruptcy
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