David Hammer

1 week ago | theguardian.com | David Hammer

A group of attorneys representing clergy abuse survivors is ramping up pressure to get the archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, under oath before a judge decides whether to kick the church out of bankruptcy. Lawyers for hundreds of survivors filed a motion Wednesday to end the church’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a day before the fifth anniversary of a case that’s paid none of about 500 survivors but has cost the archdiocese around $45m in legal and professional fees.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | David Hammer

In a major development for the second-oldest Catholic diocese in the country, a US bankruptcy judge has ordered the Archdiocese of New Orleans to appear in court in June and show why its five-year-old bankruptcy case should not be dismissed. Judge Meredith Grabill’s order suggests little concrete progress has been made since 13 September 2024, when the archdiocese and a committee representing more than 500 clergy abuse claimants filed competing plans for settling the bankruptcy.

3 weeks ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Ramon Vargas |David Hammer

The clergy abuse survivor who helped prosecutors secure the only conviction against a notorious child rapist and retired Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans is still hoping that authorities file criminal charges against his former high school principal and everyone else who enabled the clergyman. “Everybody that had any part … needs to be held accountable.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Ramon Vargas |David Hammer

Clergy abuse survivors who were ousted from a committee trying to negotiate a settlement resolving the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese’s bankruptcy say they have lost their confidence in the judge presiding over the case.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Ramon Vargas |David Hammer

A federal judge used the findings of a justice department investigation to justify expelling clergy molestation survivors from a committee trying to negotiate settlements with the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese after their lawyer tipped off a high school that its chaplain was an admitted child molester.