Today, the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre (DRVC) and its parishes announced a proposed global settlement with hundreds of sex abuse survivors who allege they were abused as children at the DRVC’s parishes, churches, and schools. The settlement is conditioned on each of the DRVC’s parishes filing for bankruptcy, a first in any bankruptcy arising from claims against the Catholic Church, and will stop a number of jury trials against the DRVC and its parishes. The first jury trial was scheduled to begin on October 7, 2024.  

The proposed settlement is conditioned on each of the DRVC’s parishes filing for bankruptcy in order to protect the parishes and their insurers from the threat of future lawsuits. The total settlement amount may increase based on claims covered by the Arrowood insurance company, which is going through liquidation and did not participate in the settlement.  

Jason P. Amala, a partner and sexual abuse attorney with Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, who represents more than a dozen survivors who filed claims in the DRVC bankruptcy, believes the Diocese settled because of upcoming jury trials:  “The timing of this settlement speaks volumes. With less than two weeks to go before the first jury trial, the Diocese, its parishes, and its insurance companies have come to the table and we have a global deal. Ironically, the Diocese filed for bankruptcy in order to avoid jury trials, but then spent the last four years asserting our clients’ claims had little or no value. We commend the survivors and Judge Glenn for staying the course, making the deal happen. and sending a strong message that even the most powerful entities can be held accountable.”

James R. Marsh, a partner and sexual abuse attorney with Marsh Law Firm PLLC, reiterated that the threat of upcoming jury trials was the catalyst for the DRVC reaching the deal: "The Diocese claimed $200 million was its 'best and final' offer, and threatened to dismiss its own bankruptcy if survivors did not accept its low ball offer.  Rather than capitulate, the survivors told the Diocese, its parishes, and their insurance companies to get ready to face New York juries for their wrongdoing. On the proverbial courthouse steps at the first jury trial, the Diocese, its parishes, and its insurance carriers have finally agreed to settle for more than $120 million over their last offer.  I hope this settlement paves the way for a similar approach in the other Catholic bankruptcies, some of which have been pending for even longer than this one.  If anyone out there wants to argue these claims aren't worth much, they should be forced to make that argument to a jury."

Background on DRVC Bankruptcy

Filed almost four years ago, on October 1, 2020, the DRVC’s bankruptcy is one of the longest pending Catholic bankruptcies in the country, and has also been one of the most contentious.

In March 2023, The Official Committee Of Unsecured Creditors, a committee of survivors appointed by the bankruptcy court to represent the interests of all survivors, filed a motion to dismiss the DRVC’s bankruptcy (Dkt. 1912). The motion claimed the DRVC and its parishes were unwilling to propose a reasonable amount to resolve the bankruptcy, and noted the DRVC had made clear it would never agree to a settlement that did not include its parishes.  

On October 23, 2023, the bankruptcy court recognized the parties were at an impasse, but declined to grant the Committee’s motion because it would result in hundreds of lawsuits against the Diocese and its parishes returning to state court.  The bankruptcy court recognized the Diocese would likely just file for bankruptcy, again.  Instead of dismissal, the bankruptcy court suggested the parties consider “test cases,” in the form of jury trials in state court, in order to “get a better handle on what's the range of potential recoveries against parishes and/or the Diocese.”

In early 2024, as a number of test cases began to move forward in the state court system, the DRVC filed a proposed plan for emerging from bankruptcy.  In April 2024, the DRVC announced that its proposed plan had been rejected by more than 85% of survivors, which it admitted was an “overwhelming” number of rejections.  In response, on April 12, 2024, the DRVC filed its own motion to dismiss its bankruptcy, claiming $200 million was “its best and final offer” to its creditors.  (Dkt. 3053).  

Rather than grant the DRVC’s motion to dismiss its own bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court noted the DRVC and some of its parishes were facing jury trials in New York state court and ordered the parties to resume settlement negotiations.  The first of those jury trials was scheduled to begin on October 7, 2024, in Nassau County.  

The Diocese originally filed for bankruptcy on October 1, 2020, following hundreds of child sex abuse lawsuits made possible by the Child Victims Act (CVA). The CVA opened a “lookback” window that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations and bestowed survivors with the unprecedented opportunity to seek restitution for decades-old child sex abuse crimes. The CVA lookback window was opened in August 2019 and closed in August 2021. Throughout this two-year period, PCVA and The Marsh Law Firm filed nearly 700 cases in state court.

About PCVA Law

Since 2004, Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA) has represented hundreds of abuse survivors in substantial and complex bankruptcy proceedings around the country, including the Spokane Diocese, the Pacific Northwest Order of Jesuit Priests, the Christian Brothers of Ireland, and the Milwaukee Archdiocese.  PCVA currently represents numerous survivors of sexual abuse in the pending bankruptcies of the the Boy Scouts of America, the Buffalo Diocese, the Rochester Diocese, the Camden Diocese, and the Archdiocese of Agana in Guam. In bankruptcy proceedings for the Pacific Northwest Order of Jesuit Priests, PCVA represented almost 140 survivors in one of the largest Catholic clergy settlements in the nation.  The firm has also represented multiple women who were sold for sex as children on backpage.com and whose claims resulted in the seizure and closure of that website by federal authorities.