The Diocese of Rochester (N.Y.) reached a $55 million deal to compensate 475 individual claims of childhood sex abuse while scrapping an earlier pact with its insurers and allowing abuse victims to pursue litigation to unlock additional insurance payouts, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The deal announced on Thursday marks a new phase in the three-year-old bankruptcy case and ends an earlier settlement between the New York diocese and its insurers, which had agreed to pay more than $107 million to compensate victims. Victims’ representatives opposed the earlier deal, saying the insurers weren’t paying enough. The new agreement unveiled Thursday “represents the fairest approach for the survivors and the most viable path forward,” Bishop Salvatore Matano said in a statement. The Diocese of Rochester’s insurers didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Some victims’ lawyers said Thursday that it should be able to wrap up its bankruptcy case within six months.
