The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport will take a major step in emerging from bankruptcy, a protection it sought because of its clergy sexual abuse scandal, with the filing of a plan that will detail its $37 million settlement with abuse victims.A reorganization plan is to be filed jointly this afternoon by the diocese and the case's creditors committee, made up of seven abuse victims.
Diocese attorney Richard Davidson provided The Gazette a copy of the 73-page plan this morning and its accompanying 78-page disclosure statement, which further details the plan.
"This is a big milestone in the bankruptcy proceeding," said Mike Uhde, an abuse victim from Davenport who is co-chairman of the creditors committee.
The plan still must be approved by a judge and by a vote of the 156 alleged abuse victims who filed claims in the case. Ballots will be sent out after a March 5 court hearing. At least 75 percent of those who vote must approve of the plan for it to take effect.
Uhde said the creditors committee unanimously approved the plan.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2006, saying it did not have the money to settle the claims stemming from its clergy sexual abuse scandal. At the time, it was just the fourth diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy because of the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church.
The Davenport diocese had just lost a $1.5 million case brought by Uhde and was soon to go to trial for another case. The diocese already had paid about $10.5 million to 45 other victims since 2004.
The diocese has about 105,000 parishioners in 83 parishes and covers 22 counties in southeast Iowa.
An outline of the settlement was released in early December. About $37 million, minus legal fees and other expenses, will go to victims.
Of that, Travelers Insurance Co. will pay $19.5 million, with the other $17.5 million coming from the diocese.
Of the diocese's share, $5.9 million will be paid by the St. Vincent Home Corporation, which funds organizations that help children, and four parishes that had the most serious claims of abuse, according to a news release from the diocese. The parishes will not be named until they have had time to inform their parishioners, the release said.
The plan also details several nonmonetary terms, including:
Publicly releasing the names of all perpetrators of abuse and posting those names on the diocese Web site for at least nine years.
Within one year, Bishop Martin Amos must visit every parish where abuse occurred or where a perpetrator worked. He must also apologize in writing to the victims.
The bishop must publicly support the elimination of all criminal statutes of limitation for child sexual abuse committed by clergy or others in similar positions of authority.
The diocese newspaper must provide space for any of the 156 claimants who want to publish their story.
Post information on how to contact health care professionals and authorities to report abuse.
Uhde said the nonmonetary terms were much more important to victims than the money. He even went so far as to say that if the diocese had made such public admissions and apologies years ago, there would not have been an avalanche of lawsuits.
"It's a sad thing that's happened," he said. "It's encouraging, though, that with the nonmonetary agreements in place ... it's a new start for them and for this diocese."
It will likely be at least several months before payments are made to victims. Those with claims against the diocese will have three options:
They can take $10,000 and do nothing more.
They can go before an arbitrator, who will weigh the circumstances of their case and use a matrix to assign a value to the claim.
Or they can go through the court system.
The expectation is that most people will use the matrix system because the payouts likely will be higher than in the other two options. Only a certain amount of money will be set aside for litigation, and anyone who chooses that route will have to go through potentially lengthy court processes and also may have to hire, and pay for, an attorney.
A portion of the settlement — Uhde thought it would be $1.5 million — will be set aside for future claims.
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