As you may know, the bankruptcy plan that has been confirmed requires the Diocese to comply with important child protection protocols developed by the Committee and the Diocese to enhance the Diocese’s procedures for protecting children within the Diocese.

One aspect of the new child protection protocols provides that a survivor will be appointed to the “Diocesan Review Board.” The Diocesan Review Board is a body within the Diocese that, among other things, evaluates any new claims of sexual abuse that are brought to the Diocese and provides recommendations to the Bishop regarding such claims. The Bishop will select the survivor to be appointed to the Diocesan Review Board from a list of five interested survivors provided by the Committee.

The Committee invites survivors who may be interested in serving on the Diocesan Review Board to a meeting on October 23, 2025 at 11:00AM Eastern Time where it will further discuss with interested survivors what the role will entail. To the extent you are interested, please email Syracusesurvivorteam@stinson.com by October 22, 2025 and you will be provided a Zoom link for the meeting. The Committee will nominate five survivors for appointment to the Diocesan Review Board after the meeting.

The Committee is pleased to report that Judge Kinsella has entered her written order confirming the Diocese of Syracuse’s plan of reorganization (the “Plan”). Here’s what survivors can expect moving forward assuming that there is no appeal of the confirmation order:

• The Survivor settlement trust (the “Trust”) will be formed and the Trustee, D.W. Harrow and Associates, will take action to prepare the Trust to receive settlement payments from the Diocese, Diocese affiliates, and the insurance companies on the timelines set forth in the Plan and insurance settlement agreements.  This should occur before the end of 2025.
• The Survivor Claim Reviewer, Roger Kramer, will review survivor claims in accordance with the Plan and the Allocation Protocol.
• After the claim review process is completed and the Trust receives the settlement funds, the Trust will contact survivors or their attorneys regarding the process for distributing the settlement funds to survivors.
• Please note that November 9 is the deadline for claimants to supplement their claims.  If you have any additional information to support your claim, you may do so until November 9, 2025 by emailing any documents to Syracusesurvivorteam@stinson.com.  We will then get your supplemental materials to the claim reviewer.

While the Committee cannot identify the precise date that the settlement funds will be disbursed, it wants to emphasize its confidence that both the Trustee and Claim Reviewer, each of whom the Committee selected, will act with the utmost diligence and expedience to ensure that distributions can be made to survivors as soon as possible. The Committee recognizes that this has been a long and difficult process for all Survivors, and while there is still work to be completed, is happy to report that the end is in sight.

Please feel free to reach out to the Committee’s counsel at syracusesurvivorteam@stinson.com with any questions.

Judge Littlefield Rules Insurers Do Not Have Standing to Object to Survivor Claims

In a significant victory for Survivors, Judge Littlefield has issued a decision that has wide-ranging implications. Specifically, Judge Littlefield concluded that insurers who deny that they are financially responsible for survivor claims do not—without more—have standing (the ability to act in Court) to object to survivor claims. The decision is instructive with regard to when and whether insurance companies have the ability to act in bankruptcy cases.

In the Diocese of Albany case, two of the Diocese’s insurance carriers, London Market Insurers and the Hartford, objected to nearly 50 survivor claims. The Committee challenged the objections, arguing that the insurers did not have standing to object. Judge Littlefield agreed, writing:  “As the Court stated on the record, it is difficult to “understand how [the Insurers] create the thread that [the Insurers] have standing when [they] have nothing at stake, [they] have no skin in the game.” 

The Committee applauds this decision and is hopeful that it will recognized across the country in situations where insurance companies attempt to interfere in bankruptcy cases to the detriment of Survivors.

At the confirmation hearing on August 28, Judge Wendy Kinsella indicated that she would issue a ruling approving the bankruptcy reorganization plan of the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese.  This is very good news for the more than 400 Survivors of sexual abuse who have been waiting over five years for this bankruptcy to be resolved.  This website will be updated as more information is released.  Any Survivor who is represented by legal counsel should communicate with their attorney to discuss how this development impacts their individual case.