Milwaukee Lawyers Helping Sexual Abuse Survivors

On January 4, 2011 the Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee filed bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin. It was the eighth Catholic Diocese or Order to file for bankruptcy protection.

Unlike prior church bankruptcy cases where a Catholic diocese or Order was facing hundreds of lawsuits from survivors of clergy sexual abuse, here the Milwaukee Archdiocese was facing only 23 pending clergy sexual abuse lawsuits.

Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki stated that the two dozen lawsuits threatened the archdiocese's financial stability. In fact, this bankruptcy filing is a legal dodge aimed at stopping efforts by abuse survivors and their attorneys to open up tightly-held secrets about the scandal - and to trace those dirty secrets up the ladder to the Vatican.

When a bankruptcy petition is filed in federal court, an "automatic stay" order issues that shuts down all pending lawsuits. Jurisdiction over the cases of all abuse victims is automatically transfered from state courts to the federal bankruptcy court. The attorneys representing the abuse victims are prohibited from taking sworn depositions of church officials, subpoenaing church documents or setting jury trials.

Helping Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

Ordinarily, the function of the automatic stay is to give the debtor some time and "breathing room" to marshall its assets, to notify its creditors and to make arrangements to sell property in order to pay the claims of creditors. These laws are important to our economic system and when properly exercised, ensure the orderly restructuring or liquidation of financially distressed businesses. Chapter 11 bankruptcy was created to address businesses whose financial liabilities exceed their assets or ability to pay their debts when due. Bankruptcy is appropriate in settings where, for example, the creditors are airline fuel vendors or automobile parts suppliers. It is immoral and wrong for a church to be able to use these laws against those young people who were gravely harmed by sexual abuse by its priests.

In the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy, Catholic Church officials are attempting to take unfair advantage of the bankruptcy system, not to financially reorganize, but to evade probing questioning under oath about their practices of coddling pedophile priests - occurring over decades; about their pattern of shuffling known rapists from parish to parish while at the same time hiding these hideous crimes from the police and child welfare agencies; silencing victims and parents and hiding the facts from church members and the public. Bankruptcy was never intended to be wielded as a club so as to allow church enablers of felony sex offenders to re-victimize their victims.

This bankruptcy is unlike all of the others that came before it. It was filed on the eve of scheduled depositions of key church fact witnesses - material witnesses who were expected to testify that the Archdiocese's policies and practices were carried out under the knowledge, direction and support of the Vatican. While long suspected, no previous case in history has come this close to establishing the exact nature and extent of the Vatican's involvement in the perpetuation of sex crimes against children by priests in this country.

We know that the Milwaukee Archdiocese has been home to a vast number of adult survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The Reverend Lawrence C. Murphy, who died in 1998, may have molested more than 200 boys while he was posted at St. John's School for the Deaf near Milwaukee, as reported by the New York Times in March 2010. Despite requests from several bishops to defrock Murphy, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, declined to take action, the Times found.

In the Milwaukee Archdiocese alone, there are more than 60 publicly identified clergy child abusers, undoubtedly a small fraction of the total number of abusers in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

Church officials filed bankruptcy to prevent exposure of its secrets but also to take advantage of the "claims bar deadline" in bankruptcy - a legal rule which cuts-off a creditor's right to sue the debtor in the future. Despite the Milwaukee Archdiocese's vast financial resources and ample insurance coverage its second goal is to eliminate the ability of survivors to pursue justice when they are ready.

Many child sexual abuse survivors do not become psychologically symptomatic until the passage of time often decades and are therefore unaware of their injuries. Or, while symptomatic, they may not see or understand the association between their emotional and psychological difficulties and their sexual victimization as a child. The child typically "stuffs" the memories of the abuse and works hard to not think about it. For some, this coping strategy works - for a time. The child and later the adult, uses various coping mechanisms - denial, self-blame and compartmentalization - to maintain some semblance of normalcy and to function day-to-day. Some resist disclosing the secret out of feelings of profound shame while others may keep the secret in order to protect elderly parents from feelings of guilt or responsibility for the abuse.

If you were abused by a priest or other employee of the Milwaukee Archdiocese - whether or not you are emotionally ready, you must come forward if you do not want your legal right to justice taken away. Simply put, this bankruptcy filing means that time for justice for you is running out. If you fail to timely file a claim in the bankruptcy court, you will lose your right to justice and compensation... forever.

Now is the Time to Take Action

If you are an abuse survivor or are close to someone you believe may have been, please think about the implications of this bankruptcy filing for you and others you care about who may also have been affected by what happened to you. Its time you come forward and get the help and healing you need.

We have a proven record of success in helping survivors navigate the treacherous shoals of the bankruptcy system and the court system. We have successfully represented hundreds of clients in the Spokane Catholic Diocese Bankruptcy and in the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province Bankruptcy.

Call us for a free, no-obligation consultation at 1-888-667-0683 or 1-877-275-4416.