The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester (N.Y.) has put forward a $147.75 million offer to settle claims filed by 475 sexual-abuse survivors in the diocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Rochester Beacon reported. Whether the nine-figure offer will bring a quick end to the long-stalled bankruptcy at this point seems far from certain. The offer was outlined in a filing posted with the bankruptcy court late Friday afternoon. In court papers, the diocese portrays the offer as a deal that would best serve the abuse victims “by achieving certainty with respect to a very substantial insurance contribution rather than risking the cost, extensive delay, and uncertain outcome of litigation in pursuit of the theoretical possibility of a larger recovery at some point in the distant future.” The Rochester diocese filed bankruptcy in September 2019, roughly a month after the New York Child Victims Act went into effect. Signed into law in February of that year, the CVA temporarily lifted a seven-year statute of limitations on sexual-abuse claims. That opened a roughly two-year window for adults who had been sexually abused as children decades ago and failed to press claims then to go after their alleged abusers. Under the CVA, more than 300 individuals have filed state court complaints accusing Rochester diocese priests and other church officials. Four hundred seventy-five people have filed claims seeking compensation for alleged sexual abuse in the Rochester diocese’s chapter 11. Terms proposed by the diocese’s settlement offer would see its insurance carriers contribute $107.25 million to a fund to pay abuse survivors. The diocese and its parishes would contribute $40.5 million to the fund.
