It’s been over two years since the Baltimore Catholic Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy, and yet the mediation between the survivors and the church for payouts regarding childhood sexual abuse is still ongoing.
The two parties met in a hearing on Jan. 5 where they said they are still willing to negotiate the terms of an agreement, despite some concerns from survivors about the length of the mediation.
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents survivors in the case, and the church will meet seven times between January and March.
Previously the Archdiocese put forward a plan that would pay the hundreds of survivors $33 million and all available insurance money.
“The Creditors Committee, of course, turned that down because it's, it's an insult, and they're going to have to come together at the mediation and raise that amount in the final settlement of the bankruptcy,” said Theresa Lancaster, a survivor and lawyer for survivors.
Other settlements have reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is paying $880 million to 1,353 survivors, the Archdiocese of New Orleans finalized a $230 million settlement for 600 survivors and the New York Archdiocese reached a $300 million settlement with 1,300 survivors.
The Creditors Committee put forward a plan for more than $888 million, but the offer has more been settled at this point.
The Creditors asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle Harner to dismiss the Church’s bankruptcy case last September.
The court has not moved forward with that motion, hoping that mediation will eventually pan out.