By Nora Kowalczyk
BUFFALO — Survivors of clergy sexual abuse have voted overwhelmingly to accept the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s plan to settle their claims for about $327 million, clearing one of the last hurdles in a bankruptcy case that has run since 2020.
All but three of the 541 abuse claimants who had returned ballots voted to approve the plan, The Buffalo News reported Saturday. The plan would resolve nearly 900 claims, most of them filed under New York’s Child Victims Act, and let the diocese exit Chapter 11.
“We needed a two-thirds majority of the voters. We got over 99 percent so just an overwhelming approval vote,” Steve Boyd, an Amherst attorney who represents many of the claimants, told WGRZ.
The vote does not end the case. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Carl L. Bucki still has to confirm the plan, insurers still have to sign final agreements, and each survivor’s share still has to be set.
Where the money comes from
Of the roughly $327 million, insurance companies are to pay about $177 million, Mr. Boyd said. The other roughly $150 million is to come from the diocese, including required contributions from its parishes, according to WGRZ.
“They’re hammering out language for insurance agreements,” Mr. Boyd told the station. “They’re hoping to have those hammered out by next Wednesday.”
The plan, proposed jointly by the diocese, related debtors and the official committee representing abuse claimants, would place the claims in a trust and bar future abuse lawsuits against the diocese and the participating Catholic organizations, according to a court notice published by the diocese. That “channeling injunction” would send claims to the trust instead of to court.
What happens next
Judge Bucki approved the disclosure statement describing the plan on Aug. 28, which allowed the vote to begin. The court notice set a confirmation hearing for Oct. 27 at the Robert H. Jackson U.S. Courthouse on Niagara Square, and said the hearing could be continued without further notice. Judge Bucki will be told the results of the vote at a hearing on Nov. 18, according to WGRZ, with more hearings expected in December and January.
If the plan is confirmed and takes effect, a specialist known as an allocator will set the amount each survivor receives under an agreed protocol. Mr. Boyd said payments are expected in the first quarter of 2027.
“It’s a guideline for the allocator to use when he puts a value, a money value, on the case,” he said. “So we have used this same individual in the Dioceses of Rochester and Syracuse — he’s done many more.”
Survivors will be able to add information to their claims, Mr. Boyd said, and those unhappy with their award can ask for reconsideration for a fee of about $500. “But the allocator can keep the number the same, raise the number, or can lower the number,” he said.
Court filings in the case are posted on the claims agent’s website.
The parish dispute
The parish share has been contested inside the church. Some parishes appealed their required contributions to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy. A spokesperson for Save Our Churches Buffalo told WGRZ that most of those decisions went in the parishes’ favor and some are still pending.
The diocese said in May that the Vatican rulings would not derail the deal. “These decisions in no way affect the settlement plan, nor the Diocese’s commitment to fulfilling the terms it has pledged to bring about a sense of closure and restitution to the many victim-survivors of sexual abuse,” it said in a statement reported by WGRZ.
The diocese also said parish money set aside for the settlement had not left parish control. “Parish funds designated for the settlement have been segregated into a separate account administered by the parish until which time they will be turned over to fulfill the Diocese’s settlement with the Creditors Committee,” the statement said.
“This was about change”
For some survivors, the vote was a practical decision rather than a reconciliation. Kevin Brun, who returned a ballot in favor of the plan, told The Buffalo News he had mixed feelings.
“This wasn’t about money for me,” Mr. Brun said. “This was about change, and nothing’s going to change. The Buffalo Diocese isn’t going to change.”
The Buffalo News described the case as the longest-running Chapter 11 case in the country for a Catholic diocese. Lawyers for the diocese, the parishes and the creditors committee have said they want it finished by the end of this year, the newspaper reported.
The Chronicle has asked the diocese and the creditors committee’s counsel for comment on the vote and the timeline for the Nov. 18 hearing.
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