Posted by frenchie.
After the high level of interest generated by the trial of Bankruptcy in Federal Court, we noted a certain lull in the attention of people.
Judge Tydingco Gatewood having ruled that the Archdiocese of Agana had not met their burden to prove the existence of a resulting Trust, which would have protected the parishes properties and the schools. The plaintiffs were able to put all catholic properties into the one set of assets which could possibly get used for the compensation of the creditors. (which include banks, survivors and other creditors)
During the trial, a highly emotional testimony by Mr Tudela ( the representative of the survivors) followed by a heartfelt apology by Archbishop Byrnes, led the Judge to encourage on several occasions both parties to consider reaching an agreement under the settlement effort led by Judge Faris in the Federal Court of Hawaii.
Right after that weekend, the Chancery summoned its pastors and school principals to have the lawyers give them an update.Finally last Friday the hearing scheduled in Judge Tydingco Gatewood court was postponed, at the request of both parties to this coming Friday the 11th of March. to get more time to find a common agreement by both parties.
This was a fairly encouraging event, since it appears both parties were willing to listen to one another.
This past Monday there was again a new meeting for the Pastors and the Principals who were given a package to show them the properties on the "Butcher block" for lack of better word.
We Know the lawyers from both sides and Mr Tudela are now in Hawaii to attempt to reach an settlement agreeable to both parties.
Many members of the laity are quite worried about the development of this negotiation, and have let us know about their concerns. Lets hope they also have shared these concerns with the Chancery.
It would also appear, that so far the bills from the lawyers have increase by 50% since the last hearing to now reach $9.00 million dollars. I have not been able to verify that number yet, but we are trying to get that information.
Meanwhile the survivors have yet to receive a penny, and Apuron has not had his day in court yet.
Lets pray that the victims will decide what is right for them, and stop the bleeding.
It is obvious that the lawyers might not agree with that. Yet this is what justice should be like. Not just filling the pockets of the pros.
It's no secret that the lawyers for the creditors/survivors/plaintiffs are out to get all they can for themselves. That's just what they do. But who is behind the lawyers "for" the church? I put "for" in quotes for a reason. Who hired these guys and why? What's really sad is that back in 2016, we had a lawyer here named Michael Caspino who has had major success in helping dioceses in similar situations avoid bankruptcy while seeing to justice for the victim/survivors. But somebody ran him off. Or so it seems.
ReplyDeleteHello Tim, interesting comment. I do recall that lawyer's name, but cannot remember for the life of me, what happened to him. I guess this might necessitate a little investigation.
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