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Diocese of New Ulm Chapter 11 Settlement

Chapter 11 Settlement

The Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in 2017 in response to a wave of clergy sexual abuse claims filed under Minnesota's Child Victims Act lookback window. After three years in bankruptcy, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel gave final approval to a 34 million dollar settlement; the hearing is dated 10 March 2020 by MPR News and 11 March 2020 by the Marshall Independent, both describing the same confirmation, so both dates are recorded rather than resolved to one. The trust compensates 93 survivors who filed suit, funded by 26 million dollars from diocesan and parish insurance coverage, 7 million dollars in cash from the diocese including a mortgage on its Pastoral Center, and 1 million dollars from the diocese's 66 parishes. Claimants voted unanimously to approve the plan, which also commits the diocese to seventeen child protection protocols, including employee training requirements, whistleblower policies and restrictions on clergy having unsupervised contact with minors.

Facts
Documented Findings
Victim Estimate
93 1
Reported as 93 survivors who filed suit against the diocese and were compensated by the confirmed plan; the figure comes from contemporaneous reporting on the plan's approval and is consistent across both sources.
Key Finding
The New Ulm settlement was reached with unanimous claimant approval and without the multi-year insurer litigation that stretched several other diocesan bankruptcies; two thirds of the fund came from the diocese's own insurance coverage rather than contested carrier disputes, and the diocese's seventeen child protection protocols were negotiated as a condition of the plan itself rather than as a separate later commitment. 2
Inquiry Profile
Kind of Record
Settlement 1
Jurisdiction
District of Minnesota, United States (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Judge Robert Kressel) 1
Publication Year
2020 1
Period Covered, From
from 2017 1
Period Covered, To
to 2020 2
Connections

Associated With

Source Judge Approves 34 Million Dollar Clergy Abuse Settlement with New Ulm Diocese
New Ulm, Cities
Source Judge Approves 34 Million Dollar Clergy Abuse Settlement with New Ulm Diocese
Source Judge Approves 34 Million Dollar Clergy Abuse Settlement with New Ulm Diocese

Belongs to Tradition

Source Judge Approves 34 Million Dollar Clergy Abuse Settlement with New Ulm Diocese
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Sources
1. Judge Approves 34 Million Dollar Clergy Abuse Settlement with New Ulm Diocese
MPR News, 2020View the Source
2. Bankruptcy Court Approves 34 Million Dollar New Ulm Diocese Chapter 11 Plan
Marshall Independent, 2020View the Source
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