“The process now continues and will be a protracted one as we work through the legal requirements with the court-appointed creditors’ committee, which of course includes abuse survivors. We will also be working with the various insurance carriers of the Diocese as we address the financial implications of these many claims.”
The lookback window, which began Aug. 13, 2019, was originally scheduled to close in August 2020, but was extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Four of New York’s dioceses— Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Rockville Centre — have declared bankruptcy amid the lawsuits brought under the Child Victims Act.
Although the New York Catholic Conference initially opposed the Child Victims Act, the conference eventually dropped its opposition. When the bill was amended to allow lawsuits by alleged victims of not only religious clergy, but also alleged victims of public employees such as public school teachers, the conference stopped opposing it.
In May 2020 a state judge rejected a suit filed by the Diocese of Rockville Centre that claimed lawsuits under the Child Victims act are barred by the due process clause in the state constitution. It said the due process clause in the state constitution “allows the legislature to revive formerly time-barred claims only where they could not have been raised earlier,” which it adds “is not so here.”
“The court finds the Child Victims Act is a reasonable response to remedy the injustice of past child sexual abuse,” Justice Steven Jaeger of the New York Supreme Court in Nassau County wrote in his decision. “Accordingly, it does not violate defendant diocese’s right to due process under the New York State Constitution.”
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