Posted on 03/02/2023 6:29:22 PM PST by marshmallow
The San Diego diocese allegedly transferred hundreds of properties in 2019 in a scheme to lessen any potential payments to claimants alleging they were sexually abused by clergy.
A sweeping lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court accuses the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of a scheme to fraudulently transfer hundreds of properties to avoid potentially large payouts stemming from a new wave of lawsuits alleging abuse by clergy members.
The suit was filed on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the diocese held a news conference warning it might have to file bankruptcy for the second time since 2007, because of the threat from potentially large payouts to approximately 400 people who have sued alleging they were abused years ago.
The latest lawsuit said that the diocese transferred 291 properties into real estate holding companies in late 2019, just after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that opened a three-year window for people who claimed they were victims of past sexual abuse to file new claims, long after the legal timeline had passed.
The total tax assessed value of those properties is $453 million, Irwin Zalkin, a San Diego lawyer who represents about 120 sex-abuse claimants, said at a news conference Wednesday.
Transferring the assets to the holding companies — one for each individual parish — lowered the potential amount of money the clergy abuse plaintiffs could receive from the diocese in any settlement, Zalkin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sandiegouniontribune.com ...
The Catholic church should step up and just pay all these claims, get rid of their homosexual priests, and clean of the clergy. It is really sad to see this dragged out forever, no wonder church attendance keeps falling, they cannot be honest, trusted, and respected partners with their communities and members.
San Diego is nowhere near the only diocese that has done this.
Why don’t these perverts get prosecuted,and jailed?
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