Firm Proposes Plan to Resolve New York Diocese Bankruptcy

Burns Bair continues to actively seek a resolution to the bankruptcy petition filed more than two years ago by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York. As one of the lead law firms representing the official committee of creditors, which includes dozens of alleged victims of abuse, Burns Bair and co-counsel have submitted a Chapter 11 plan that calls for the diocese and its affiliates to pay $321 million into a fund for sexual abuse victims, tens of millions more than the diocese proposed. The committee plan calls for an initial fund contribution of $41 million in cash from the diocese, with a more than $280 million contribution to the fund from local parishes and affiliates of the diocese, in addition to third-party insurance settlements and litigation. The diocese has now proposed a competing plan with the primary difference relating to how liabilities of individual parishes would be treated under the reorganization. Read more on Law360 here.