San Diego Diocese files for bankruptcy

SAN DIEGO — The Catholic Diocese of San Diego announced Tuesday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection rather than face lawsuits from 150 people who alleged that they were sexually abused by priests. The first court case was set to begin today.

The diocese decision came despite a request Monday from a settlement judge to not file for bankruptcy until after a negotiating session set for Friday.

Bishop Robert Brom said in a statement that if the abuse cases went to court, monetary awards for those whose cases were first on the docket could "so deplete diocesan and insurance resources that there would be nothing left for other victims."

The Bankruptcy Court filing puts the cases, including the one set to begin today in San Diego County Superior Court, in abeyance as issues involving the diocese's assets are decided by a bankruptcy judge.

San Diego is the fifth diocese to file under Chapter 11 of bankruptcy laws. With about 1 million Catholics in its two-county area, it is the largest diocese to use the strategy. The others -- Tucson; Portland, Ore.; Spokane, Wash.; and Davenport, Iowa -- also faced multiple lawsuits that allege sexual abuse by priests.

Mary Grant, Western regional director of the advocacy group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, called the decision "a morally bankrupt move by a self-serving bishop who's afraid to face tough questions about coddling and concealing pedophile priests."

On Monday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr, who had been assigned to oversee settlement attempts by lawyers for the accusers and the diocese, had asked Brom to delay a bankruptcy filing until after a Friday negotiating session.

But Brom said the decision to file was made by the Diocesan Financial Council, which is composed mainly of laymen, and the Diocesan College of Consultors, which is made up of priests.

Attorney Irwin Zalkin, who is representing a third of the litigants, called the church's decision "nothing more or less than the approach of a big corporation and its chief financial officer

As part of Bankruptcy Court proceedings in the other dioceses, judges had ordered the opposing sides to resume settlement negotiations.

When the Dallas Diocese threatened to file for bankruptcy, litigants settled for less than a third of the $119.6 million awarded to them in a trial. The diocese did not file for bankruptcy.