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The window is closing for victims and survivors to file claims of abuse committed by church officials who served under the Great Falls-Billings Diocese, Great Falls Tribune reported yesterday. The diocese earlier this year filed for bankruptcy to begin financing a settlement fund for those reported to be abused by priests, brothers and nuns. More than 70 victims have emerged as alleged victims, claiming they were physically, emotionally and sexually abused by priests. "To be considered in part of the settlement in this pool of money, the plains would have to be made by July 31," said Molly Howard, an attorney representing about 40 victims in the Great Falls-Billings Diocese case. Forms for filing abuse claims are available on the Great Falls-Billings Diocese website and will be submitted to bankruptcy court. Following the claims deadline, parties will return to mediation in Reno during the first week of August before Hon. Greg Zive. Since the bankruptcy filing, a group of eight victims have voluntarily stepped forward to represent the 70-plus victims as a creditors' committee in the case during mediation with the church regarding the settlement. 

Roberta Moberley Dickson is the 81-year-old widow of a prominent businessman and boasts more than $5 million in assets, but she filed for bankruptcy protection, citing a single creditor — her daughter, Mary Louise Dickson Shook — and a single debt: A $3.3 million judgment awarded last November by a Jefferson Circuit Court jury that found Dickson had cheated Shook out of her inheritance, the Courier-Journal reported yesterday. The verdict included $405,000 in punitive damages against Dickson for promising to give Shook $1.5 million if she would stop saying she was raped by her brother some 30 years earlier. By filing for bankruptcy, Dickson has halted collection on the judgment and avoided having to post a bond in the amount of the verdict while she appeals it to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Shook has won an important ally: The U.S. Trustee has moved to dismiss Dickson’s petition, saying it was filed in “bad faith,” and that courts have defined bad faith to include “improper” prior conduct by the debtor and attempting to evade court orders. However, Dickson’s lawyer said there was “nothing bad faith” about the filing. He said the chapter 11 was needed to keep Shook, who lives out of state, from collecting the judgment, spending all of the money and then losing the appeal and being unable to repay it to her mother. In its motion, the U.S. Trustee's Office says that if Chief Bankruptcy Judge Tracey N. Wise doesn’t throw out the case altogether, she should appoint an outside lawyer to protect or liquidate the assets in “trustworthy fashion.”

Mountain Creek Resort is asking a bankruptcy court to approve a "confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement" that would limit the ability of the township — and the public — to access certain bankruptcy-related documents, the New Jersey Herald reported today. The request comes as the resort seeks to be relieved of up to $26 million in contractually obligated sewer debt to the Vernon Township Municipal Utilities Authority assumed under the resort's prior ownership. If the court approves the request, it not only would render all financial statements and other material provided by Mountain Creek to the township as part of its chapter 11 filing off-limits to the public, but would also permit Mountain Creek, at its discretion, to declare certain records off-limits to the township's mayor, council and MUA commissioners. The terms indicate that Mountain Creek "shall have the right in [its] reasonable discretion to designate such Confidential Material as ‘for professionals' eyes only' or as ‘for attorneys' eyes only'" — meaning that the lawyers and other professionals working for Vernon would be prohibited from sharing the documentation with their own clients. Although the township could appeal any such designation, doing so would require the township to request a bankruptcy court hearing as to why the designation should be overturned. The proposed agreement would also allow Mountain Creek, at the conclusion of the proceedings, to compel Vernon's mayor, council and MUA to return any records provided to them by Mountain Creek or else destroy them, which would prevent any member of the public from later accessing them under the Open Public Records Act.

For hundreds of brides and bridesmaids, the now-bankrupt Alfred Angelo has clients’ money and their dress, NBC Connecticut reported yesterday. The company’s bankruptcy filing lists 277 creditors in Connecticut, and dresses shipped after June 24 are stuck at the port in California and will not arrive to its customers. Alfred Angelo recently sent its bankruptcy notice to its creditors. The case has to go through its respective process, which will likely take at least six months. In the meantime, those affected can file a claim through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, where Alfred Angelo is based. The court has one general case for Alfred Angelo customers and another one for those specifically affected in the northeast. The company’s attorney, Patricia A. Redmond, suggests affected customers take advantage of both cases. She added that a claim status update will likely be available early 2018.