A Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York announced a new bankruptcy settlement on Thursday that would pay more than $323 million to about 530 sex abuse survivors who alleged they were abused by priests when they were children.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves about 1.2 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said earlier this year that it did not think a bankruptcy settlement would be possible, after abuse survivors rejected the diocese’s previous $200 million settlement offer.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who is overseeing the case, said the deal represented "enormous progress" after the bankruptcy came "within a hair's breadth" of failure.
Rockville Centre will contribute $234.8 million to a settlement fund, with four insurers contributing $85.3 million. The settlement will also receive funding from another insurer that is being liquidated in a separate insolvency proceeding and from attorneys representing abuse survivors.