Buffalo Diocese representatives and childhood sex abuse survivors returned to the negotiating table Wednesday, following a contentious nine-hour court hearing Tuesday over whether 160 parishes and other Catholic entities in the diocese should continue to be protected from abuse lawsuits.
The diocese and its parishes want abuse litigation against parishes to be put on hold for at least another 90 to 120 days so mediation discussions can progress without the distraction of having to defend against potentially hundreds of lawsuits in state courts.
Allowing those lawsuits to proceed to discovery would deplete diocesan and parish insurance assets that could better be used in compensating abuse victims in a global settlement, said lead diocese attorney Stephen A. Donato.
“What do I want to do? Keep our eyes on the ball. That’s mediation, not open the flood gates to absolute chaos,” said Donato.
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents about 900 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests and other diocese employees, had agreed previously to extend a stipulated stay a dozen times over the 3½ years of the bankruptcy. But the committee now argues that the stay is doing more harm than good, and Child Victims Act lawsuits against parishes should be allowed to move forward.
At least 15 people who filed sex abuse claims against the diocese have died since the diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020, said creditors committee lead attorney Ilan D. Scharf.
“Survivors are aging and dying. We are three and a half years into this case. We are decades, decades, into survivors’ longing for justice,” said Scharf.
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