Baltimore Archdiocese Bankruptcy Filing Heads Off Clergy Abuse Lawsuits Under Maryland Child Victims Act
The bankruptcy filing indicates church operations will proceed as normal as the Archdiocese reorganizes over a two to three-year period.
The bankruptcy filing indicates church operations will proceed as normal as the Archdiocese reorganizes over a two to three-year period.
Baltimore Archdiocese expects to face hundreds of child sex abuse lawsuits under a new Maryland law, which takes effect next month, removing any statute of limitations for the church's failure to protect children from known predators.
New York woman indicates a pediatrician sexually abused her at every examination from the time she was a toddler until she was 18 years old.
More than 500 child sexual abuse lawsuits were filed against the Archdiocese of San Francisco after California temporarily lifted statute of limitations barriers.
Investigators found a "culture of permissiveness" among staff at federal women's prison facilities, which helped perpetrate incidents of sexual abuse against prisoners.
Settlement comes after the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse filed for bankruptcy in 2020, as a growing number of clergy child sexual abuse lawsuits were filed, which had once been time-barred by the New York statute of limitation.
The decision comes as many states have moved to allow sex abuse lawsuits to be filed despite statute of limitation laws.
Similar law removing statute of limitations on Maryland child sexual abuse lawsuits is also expected to face a similar challenge when it goes into effect in October.
The ruling means each cheerleader sex abuse lawsuit will proceed as an individual claim in its originating court district.
Former director formed the Maryland Boychoir the same year he was fired for allegedly sexually abusing a choirboy years earlier in the Catholic Church.