The Archdiocese of Baltimore is warning parishioners that a new Maryland law enabling victims of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits could lead to “devastating financial consequences,” or even bankruptcy.
In a letter Tuesday addressed to “Friends in Christ,” Archbishop William E. Lori said he plans to consult in the coming days with various ordained and lay leaders about how the archdiocese should respond to the new law, which goes into effect Oct. 1. One approach under consideration, Lori wrote, is a bankruptcy reorganization that would compensate survivors of sexual abuse while allowing the nation’s oldest archdiocese to continue operations.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Baltimore Banner, follows a yearslong investigation by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General into 80 years of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The 456-page report was the most comprehensive accounting in Maryland of sexual abuse in the church to date, and revealed more than two dozen previously unidentified abusers.
Maryland lawmakers voted to eliminate the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse less than an hour after the release of the investigative report last spring detailing decades of abuse within Maryland churches.
The archdiocese at the time encouraged community members to lobby against the legislation, a move some attorneys called a “common defense tactic in the corporate malfeasance world.” Lori’s letter this week suggested the new law may violate the Maryland Constitution — but said it’s up to the courts to make that determination.
The letter acknowledges the archdiocese risks multiple new lawsuits once the law goes into effect. Dioceses elsewhere have filed for bankruptcy protection when facing the possibility of a flood of lawsuits and judgments over abuse that happened decades ago.
Several law firms have already announced plans to sue the Archdiocese of Baltimore on behalf of victims of priest sexual abuse. Law firms are advertising across the city to solicit survivors as clients. The prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump came to Baltimore and held a press conference in May, announcing plans to sue on behalf of clients when the law takes effect.
The story continues at the Baltimore Banner: Archdiocese of Baltimore warns sexual abuse lawsuits under new law could lead to bankruptcy
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