Thirty-five Child Victims Act lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., may end up getting settled in federal bankruptcy court – albeit through the Boy Scouts of America’s chapter 11 plan, not the diocese’s own bankruptcy process, the Buffalo News reported. Lawyers for the diocese have asked Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York to let the diocese “opt in” to the Boy Scout settlement plan that was approved in September. If approved, the move would allow the diocese to shift 35 childhood sex l-abuse claims – a small fraction of the more than 900 claims filed against it – onto a $2.46 billion settlement trust in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy case. The diocese would transfer to the trust its insurance coverage rights under Boy Scouts of America policies. The diocese also would be granted “limited protected party” status, whereby any scouting-related abuse litigation would be on hold for at least 12 months while the diocese negotiated an “appropriate contribution” with the settlement trust. Channeling the 35 claims to the trust would “result in the availability of additional funds for distribution to other abuse claimants in the diocese bankruptcy case,” Richard C. Suchan, chief operating officer for the diocese, said in court papers filed last week.
