The mediation involving the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee and its creditors — aimed at bringing an end to its nearly four-year-old bankruptcy — has concluded with no agreement on compensating the church's victims of childhood sexual abuse, the archdiocese said yesterday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Lawyers for the archdiocese, its $60 million cemetery trust, its insurance companies, the bankruptcy creditors committee and the largest group of victims met with a mediator in Minnesota on Monday for the second time this month. The latest mediation, requested by the archdiocese, was the third failed attempt at a negotiated settlement since 2010. The failure means the parties will return to federal court for a new round of costly battles in a bankruptcy case in which legal fees have already topped $13 million. Before entering bankruptcy, the archdiocese paid at least $33 million in settlements, therapy, legal fees and other costs associated with the sex abuse crisis, according to its website. The archdiocese filed for chapter 11 in January 2011 in an effort to deal with mounting sex abuse claims, several of which were heading to court and potentially devastating legal judgments.
