The Syracuse Catholic Diocese will pay $100 million to hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse, as part of a bankruptcy case that began three years ago.
The announcement was released jointly on Thursday morning by the Roman Catholic Diocese and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, a group of seven survivors appointed by the federal government to act as fiduciaries for the 375 involved, about one-third of whom are in Syracuse and represented by several attorneys, including Cynthia LaFave of Albany.
LaFave called the settlement incredibly significant “for all of the survivors of sexual abuse all across the United States.” And particularly important here, where “not only has the Syracuse diocese admitted what has happened in that diocese,” it’s also paying out the second largest settlement in the nation by a bankrupt Roman Catholic institution.
Minnesota-based attorney Taylor Stippel called it "monumental" for her Syracuse clients, most though not all of whom are men and have been waiting for decades for justice. Some were assaulted or raped more than half a century ago, she says, when they were just four or five years old.
Both attorneys categorically insist that the historic settlement would not have been possible without the strength and resilience of the survivors who came forward. They’ll be splitting the money according to legal distribution protocol, says Stippel, and not equally, though she still wishes her clients were getting justice beyond bankruptcy court.
“The opportunity to have their day in court was ripped from their hands with this bankruptcy filing,” said Stippel. “And that's why we think the tactic is so nefarious, because it robs survivors of what the legislature gave them the right to do.”
She’s referring to the fact that the survivors first filed their case in court, in 2019, after the New York State Child Victims Act was passed. That legislation significantly expanded the statute of limitations for adults filing claims and reports of sex crimes committed against them when they were children, and it changed some criminal and prosecutorial proceedings.
Stippel says the survivors litigated their cases for just under a year, “and just as things were starting to get somewhere with the civil discovery process, just as documents and information were begun to be produced,” the Syracuse diocese filed for bankruptcy in June 2020.
But the head of the diocese, Syracuse Bishop Douglas Lucia, says the move was meant to help all those who suffered sexual abuse by an employee or volunteer of the Church, rather than just some of them.
To settle nearly 400 claims in litigation would take years, he said, “but also there's a danger that you would run out of funds, literally as some places have done, you would have to close up shop. The first few [survivors] who might come and have their cases litigated would get something, but what happens to the rest?”
Lucia says too often survivors and the pain they carry are patronized or ignored, "so I really wanted to help people, in that sense of carrying that pain and seeing if there was a way that at least we could bring some relief.”
According to the attorneys, the $100 million settlement comes from the Diocese, its parishes and other affiliated entities — what Stippel calls “the Catholic family, for lack of a better word.”
The next step in the case is getting the diocese’s insurers to pay up as well.
Lucia hopes the fact that his diocese is working with the survivors will encourage insurers to step up. Stippel, however, is less optimistic. She says usually it’s just religious institutions making financial reparations, with insurers contributing reluctantly, if at all.
“Honestly, these insurers across the board have employed tactics to delay or deny survivors the true value of their claims,” said Stippel. “And I would not say that any of them has been collaborative.”
She did say that “recently, the Diocese of Rochester bankruptcy case incorporated settlement funds from two insurance companies, London Market insurers and Interstate Fire and Casualty Company. And we see that as a promising step, but we're not encouraged by the insurers’ tactics that they have taken.”
The attorneys say they cannot divulge the name of the insurers in the Syracuse case while the case is still pending.
As for what the immediate future holds for Lucia, he says he gets “physically sick” over the sex abuse scandals that have rocked his Church — and his faith.
“So if I'm feeling that, I'm sure others are feeling that too,” said the bishop. He intends to share the news of the settlement with parishioners this weekend, and hold masses on forgiveness and sins — of commission and omission.
