A bankruptcy judge Wednesday offered a new strategy to reach a settlement between Long Island’s Catholic Church and hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors, a day after the deadline to resolve the case.
Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court said he has discussed the possibility of having several of the 600 clergy sex abuse cases against the diocese go to trial as “test cases” or “bell weather cases” to help set guidelines for a settlement.
Otherwise, Glenn warned, he might become the first jurist in the country to dismiss bankruptcy proceedings against a Catholic diocese if the two sides didn’t reach an agreement. Attorneys for the diocese said the church is not interested in the proposal while lawyers representing survivors described the plan as “a great idea.”
The Diocese of Rockville Centre, the 8th largest diocese in the nation with 1.3 million baptized Catholics, declared bankruptcy three years ago, with negotiations going on since then.
“I don’t want to be the first judge to dismiss one of these cases, but that sounds like where this is headed,” Glenn said. “All I’m asking is … try and be as creative as you can. Come up with some solutions.”
In the proposal mentioned by Glenn, the chosen cases would be heard by Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Leonard Steinman, whom one attorney said is known for running a “Rocket Docket” in which cases advance rapidly. Glenn said in court he has spoken with Steinman, who agreed to hear the cases with a jury seated.
The test cases “will give you some guidance as to a jury’s reaction to how they perceive survivors’ credibility” and how much an award would be, James Stang, the lead attorney representing the survivors, said in an interview.
Another attorney representing some of the survivors, Jeff Anderson, called the proposal “a great idea” that generates “the kind of pressure that makes cases get settled.”
The idea is that when the church, the parishes and the…
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