New Orleans clergy abuse survivors begin voting on church bankruptcy deal

A two-month voting period for clergy abuse survivors and other creditors in the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese’s bankruptcy to accept or reject the church’s plan to settle has started after a federal bankruptcy judge recently approved the plan.

It has also opened a window of time when supporters and opponents of the plan can actively solicit votes. Two-thirds of the voting claimants must approve the plan for the church to end its expensive and contentious five-year-long bankruptcy. Judge Meredith Grabill has stated that if the plan is not approved, she will dismiss the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, and the church could end up having to defend itself against claims individually in state courts.

The deadline for claimants to cast their votes is 29 October at 11.59pm central time, although the proponents of the plan can extend that deadline without court approval, according to Grabill’s order. The judge set a hearing to confirm or reject the settlement plan starting 12 November.

The first statement backing the plan was issued by Pat Moody, chair of a committee of survivors who negotiated a settlement that could pay as little as $180m to the church’s creditors and as much as $235m.

“This bankruptcy plan is a good outcome for abuse survivors, providing just and prompt compensation. If survivors vote to approve the Plan, they can expect to start getting payments within 3-4 months after approval. If survivors vote to reject the plan, I fear survivors won’t see any money for another 3-5 years, if ever,” Moody said.

“And, very importantly, approval of the plan will ensure unprecedented child protection measures and public access to the documents showing the history of abuse in the archdiocese of New Orleans. For many of us, this structural reform is as important as financial compensation, and will only happen if the plan is approved.”

A bloc of as many as 200 survivors are represented by attorneys who want the bankruptcy dismissed and have said in court that the deal is “dead on arrival”. Whether enough survivors vote to approve the plan will largely depend on how each claimant can expect to be compensated. Points will be assigned to each abuse claim based on the severity of the abuse and its impact on each victim’s life, but the records do not offer much clarity on how much actual money those points will be worth.

Claims regarding rape by a Catholic church employee will be worth twice as much money as claims about a priest masturbating in front of someone, four times more than claims of a cleric touching someone under their clothes and seven times more than claims about being shown pornography, according to details from a settlement disclosure statement filed last week and amended this week.

The survivors’ committee that negotiated the settlement selected Richard Arsenault, a personal injury lawyer in Alexandria, as the abuse claims reviewer. He will consider the nature and impact of the abuse to award between zero and 100 points to each claim.

Points can then be added for those who participated in criminal prosecution of the abuser, those who sued before the bankruptcy began, and those who led efforts on behalf of other survivors. More points can be awarded based on the impact the abuse had on the victim’s behavior, academic achievement, mental health and loss of faith and family relationships. Points can be reduced if the claimant was over 18 and consented to the sexual contact.

Survivors won’t know how much each point is worth until Arsenault is done assessing all claims.

John Lousteau, a survivor who filed a lawsuit in 2021 against a Catholic religious order, recently won a $2.4m jury verdict. Although it’s separate from the bankruptcy case, the Lousteau verdict is viewed by many as a benchmark for what the average survivor could get if they are willing to spend more years in court.

The final plan approved by Grabill allows anyone who filed a sexual abuse claim or lawsuit against the archdiocese before 14 August to vote on the plan, even though it had previously stated that 250 claims filed after March 2021 were filed too late. Those with abuse claims against the church’s parishes, schools and affiliated charities have until 15 October 2025 to file their claims to be eligible to vote. That appears to rebut arguments made by some of the church’s creditors that as many as half of the abuse claims should be thrown out.