The Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese is advising its 161 Catholic parishes to hire bankruptcy attorneys from Idaho and Rochester to represent them collectively, as the diocese moves ahead with chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, the Buffalo News reported. More than 250 Child Victims Act lawsuits against the diocese were put on hold in the state court system as a result of the diocese’s filing in federal bankruptcy court in February. But at least 80 parishes across Western New York have been named as defendants alongside the diocese, and because the parishes are separately incorporated legal entities, they are not part of the diocese’s chapter 11 filing and the lawsuits against them are continuing in state courts. Until now, the parishes for the most part have relied heavily on the diocese for legal help, including having diocese-hired lawyers prepare the legal paperwork answering Child Victims Act complaints. But diocese officials have strongly recommended that the parishes band together and retain their own attorney to represent them going forward, as has been done in the Rochester Diocese bankruptcy case. Parish pastors, trustees and finance councils were being asked to consider hiring J. Ford Elsaesser, a bankruptcy expert in Idaho who has been involved with at least six other diocese bankruptcies, and Timothy P. Lyster of Woods Oviatt Gilman in Rochester. Lyster also represents the Rochester Ad Hoc Parish Committee in the Rochester Diocese bankruptcy.
