Judge Halts Lawsuits Amid Baltimore Archdiocese Bankruptcy: Report

BALTIMORE, MD — A federal bankruptcy judge temporarily stopped all lawsuits against Catholic schools, charities and parishes associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore just days after the organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a report.

A judge granted the archdiocese's request on Tuesday, according to a Baltimore Banner report. The order halted all lawsuits against entities on archdiocesan insurance plans.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy Friday, a day before a new Maryland law eliminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits went into effect.

• RELATED: Baltimore Archdiocese Files For Bankruptcy Ahead Of Likely Lawsuits

Archbishop William E. Lori announced the bankruptcy in a letter to an archdiocesan email list of 120,000 people. In an interview with the Banner ahead of the filing, Lori said church leaders weighed their options for months.

“There’s going to be lots of lawsuits, more than our resources can handle,” Lori told The Banner. “Why not come to the table now? Why not get going? Why delay?

The filing came just three days after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released a substantially unredacted version of a 463-page grand jury report detailing allegations of sexual abuse within the archdiocese and the cover-up of that abuse by Catholic church leadership.

The report detailed "a long history of widespread abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy" and identified nearly 160 former and current priests, as well as other members of the church who are accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children over eight decades.

In May, attorneys Ben Crump and Adam Slater announced a plan to file a series of lawsuits against the archdiocese on behalf of survivors. The announcement came after Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill eliminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits.

Lawsuits against the archdiocese itself immediately stopped when the organization filed for bankruptcy. Victims must now take their claims to bankruptcy court, the Banner reported.

In an interview with the Catholic Review, Lori said the bankruptcy filing would help provide equitable settlements to victims of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese.

“If we try to litigate them individually, the first few victim-survivors who come forward will get the majority of the assets and there won’t be anything else left for anybody else,” Lori told the publication