Baltimore archdiocese bracing for more sexual abuse claims, files for bankruptcy

BALTIMORE – The archdiocese of Baltimore, the oldest in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, two days before a new state law goes into effect that will allow child sexual abuse victims to sue organisations no matter how long ago the abuse took place.

Archbishop William Lori attributed the filing directly to the law’s effect on the archdiocese, which is facing “a great number of lawsuits” that were previously prohibited by state law, he said in a letter to the archdiocese on Friday.

Mr Lori said in the letter that filing for bankruptcy is “the best path forward to compensate equitably all victim-survivors, given the archdiocese’s limited financial resources, which would have otherwise been exhausted on litigation”.

The bankruptcy filing stops all lawsuits against the archdiocese, which could have been filed starting at 12.01am on Sunday.

Instead, a judge will oversee the reorganisation of the archdiocese, ultimately setting a deadline for victims to file their claims in bankruptcy court.

The archdiocese of Baltimore is the latest of more than a dozen dioceses and archdioceses in the US to currently be in bankruptcy proceedings.

That is in addition to 19 dioceses that have emerged from bankruptcy, according to a list maintained by Pennsylvania State University law professor Marie Reilly.

A vast majority of documented abuses in Catholic churches, schools and institutions took place decades ago, but some states have reopened opportunities for victims to bring civil claims that would have otherwise been barred because they happened too long ago.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco

filed for bankruptcy in August,

saying that it faced more than 500 lawsuits under a state law passed in 2019 that extended the statute of limitations for civil claims.

Maryland’s Child Victims Act was signed by Governor Wes Moore in April.

Maryland’s Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm for the church, opposed the bill when it was being debated, calling it unconstitutional and unfair.

The bill’s final passage was timed to the release of a major report from the Maryland attorney general that revealed how clergy members from across the archdiocese had abused hundreds of children and teenagers over six decades.

The report documented “pervasive and persistent abuse” by clergy members and others in the archdiocese, and a church hierarchy that systematically failed to investigate and restrict abusers’ access to children.

The new law eliminates the statute of limitations for future child sex abuse lawsuits, setting it apart from other states that have opened limited “lookback windows” for victims to sue over past abuse.

But the bankruptcy filing means that victims will now have to file their claims by a certain date, effectively limiting future lawsuits.

Filing for bankruptcy just days before the law goes into effect – and more than five months after it was signed – “is yet another abuse” for victims, said Mr Robert Jenner, a lawyer based in Baltimore who represents victims.

“Our clients have gotten their hopes up, they’ve been energised, they’ve been preparing for these suits,” Mr Jenner said, noting that preparation is often extremely painful for victims.

“All of that retriggering could have been avoided by a timely filing,” he said.

The archdiocese has argued that the law could result in extremely large settlements or jury awards for the first handful of victims, draining the institution’s resources and preventing others from receiving fair compensation.

But critics say that objection does not hold water, since the law caps rewards for non-economic losses in each case at US$1.5 million (S$2.05 million), a relatively low amount that would not drain resources immediately.

“Their argument is disingenuous and it’s an effort to avoid accountability,” said Mr Philip Federico, a lawyer based in Baltimore who is working with Mr Jenner on cases against the archdiocese and other institutions.

With the Chapter 11 filing, payouts to creditors – including victims suing for financial compensation – would be managed by a bankruptcy judge. Victims would not be able to present their experiences of abuse before a jury. Church officials would not be cross-examined by lawyers in open court.

Baltimore has symbolic stature in the American Catholic Church because of its history and large Catholic population.

For the country’s first few decades, the entire American Catholic Church formally existed within the diocese.

Its current leader, Mr Lori, was elected in 2022 as vice-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. NYTIMES