Diocese faces $104 million due.Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard The Archdiocese of Portland will end up paying more than $104 million to settle 386 clergy sexual abuse claims filed since 1984 if its bankruptcy reorganization plan A scheme authorized by federal law and promulgated by the president whereby he or she alters the structure of federal agencies to promote government efficiency and economy through a transfer, consolidation, coordination, authorization, or abolition of functions. is approved after hearings that begin Tuesday in Portland. The total includes at least 169 claims that have been resolved since the bankruptcy was filed in 2004, but won't be paid unless the reorganization plan is approved, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. court records. No participant in the litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. is allowed to discuss the case publicly because of a gag order A court order to gag or bind an unruly defendant or remove her or him from the courtroom in order to prevent further interruptions in a trial. In a trial with a great deal of notoriety, a court order directed to attorneys and witnesses not to discuss the case with the media—such imposed by U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan Michael Hogan is the name of:
n. Obsolete Velvet or a velvetlike fabric. [Alteration of French velours; see velour.] , who mediated scores of settlements and helped craft the proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan late last year. The archdiocese is the first Roman Catholic diocese in the nation to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of trials in multimillion-dollar lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse is an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification. by priests. If approved, the plan will pay all current claimants who have settled their cases and will set up a $20 million fund for claims that may be filed over the next 22 years. Additionally, the plan will not require any property of the archdiocese's 124 parishes to be sold to pay claims. If the plan is rejected, the archdiocese and claimants could face a decade-long legal fight over whether parish properties are owned by the archdiocese and may be sold to pay claims. Since filing for bankruptcy protection, the archdiocese has spent $15 million on legal fees to fight the lawsuits and to set up its bankruptcy plan, according to court records. The plan appears on track for approval. Court records show that five claimants who have not yet settled their cases will oppose approval, but all other interested parties approve of the plan. The five claimants charge, among other things, that the plan does not provide enough money to pay them if they win damages in jury trials. At least 15 sexual abuse claims have settled out of court for an average of $623,000 since the reorganization plan was announced in December, according to court records. Those claims total $9.35 million and will be paid - if the plan is approved - from a $13.75 million fund set aside for pending claims under the reorganization plan. That leaves $4.4 million in the fund to pay the remaining five claims, the records show. Court documents filed by lawyers for the archdiocese note that separate hearings before U.S. District Judge Robert Jones Robert Jones may refer to
However, the claimants argue - among other things - that Jones incorrectly assigned "zero" values for two lawsuits that may be headed for trial after action by the state appeals court. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris will hear arguments on the reorganization plan beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday in her seventh floor courtroom at 1001 S.W. Fifth Ave. in Portland. |
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