All clergy sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, currently in bankruptcy, must be filed by June 17, 2019. The Archdiocese has been in bankruptcy since December 2018 and the deadline has been set by the Bankruptcy Court for New Mexico. If would like an attorney to represent you in the claims process, please contact Horowitz Law immediately.
Anyone who desires to file a claim against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for sexual abuse by one of its priests, deacons or lay people must submit a "Proof of Claim Form" to the bankruptcy court. The claims form must be received by the Clerk of Court in the Bankrupty Court by 5 p.m. (Mountain Time) on June 17, 2019 or it will not be considered. Any person who has a sexual abuse claim against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and does not file a sexual abuse claim by that date may not be treated as a creditor for voting or distribution purposes under any plan of reorganization and such claim may be subject to discharge. Further, if such sexual abuse claim is discharged, the sexual abuse claimant may be forever barred and prevented from asserting his or her sexual abuse claim against the Debtor, and may not receive any payment or distribution in connection with such sexual abuse claim.
For the purposes of filing a Sexual Abuse Proof of Claim in this Bankruptcy, a Sexual Abuse Claim is defined as any claim against the Archdiocese resulting or arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly from any actual or alleged sexual conduct or misconduct, sexual abuse or molestation, indecent assault and/or battery, rape, pedophilia, ephebophilia, or sexually-related physical, psychological, or emotional harm, or contacts, or interactions of a sexual nature between a child and an adult, or a non-consenting adult and another adult, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual psychological or emotional abuse, humiliation, or intimidation, or any other sexual misconduct, and seeking monetary damages or any other relief, under any theory of liability, including vicarious liability, any negligence-based theory,
contribution, indemnity, or any other theory based on any acts or failures to act by the Archdiocese
or any other person or entity for whose acts or failures to act the Archdiocese is or was allegedly
responsible.
All sexual abuse claims filed in the bankruptcy court shall remain confidential unless a person decides to waive confidentiality on their paperwork. More than 350 abuse survivors have been documented in the archdiocese over the last 25 years. At least 16 priests who served in Taos County parishes have been named as child abusers by the archdiocese, in lawsuits or both. The archdiocese has about $49 million in assets, including about $31.6 million in property, according to the court documents. Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, the debtor - in this case, the church - comes up with a plan to pay its debts while also continuing to operate.