This week, the Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles settled with more than 1,350 victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy for $880 million.
The settlement is the largest of its kind, and could provide some insight into what some of the victims of the Baltimore Archdiocese may expect as victims work to get compensation from their abusers.
“The LA Archdiocese settlement leaves an average payout of approximately $650,000 per survivor,” said Robert Jenner, managing partner at Jenner Law, which represents the victims of the Baltimore Archdiocese. “Whether this is indicative of what the payout should be in the Baltimore bankruptcy is too early to tell, much will depend on the availability of insurance proceeds, which is still being disputed in the mediation process.”
The Baltimore Archdiocese is going through a different process than its LA counterpart.
The Church in Baltimore filed for bankruptcy last fall, just as Maryland’s Child Victims Act was about to go into effect. That law allows people to sue their abuser no matter how long ago the action happened.
The bankruptcy proceedings are still ongoing, survivors had until the end of May to file claims for compensation and more than 700 did just that.
The court is now responsible for looking at the Church’s assets and deciding how they will be sold off and distributed for payment, while also keeping the Archdiocese from completely going under.
In a filing from last year, the organization stated it had more than $200 million in assets, which include various properties, a Tiffany tea set, a diamond-encrusted crucifix, a sapphire-studded locket and dozens of solid gold rings.
However, the Church also took out insurance claims to hedge against situations like abuse.
As Jenner said, payouts from those companies will determine how much the Church will have available to give the survivors.