Now that the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has filed for Chapter 11 protection, attorneys representing people who have filed lawsuits under the Child Victims Act are vowing to continue to fight for justice.

“Abuse survivors need to understand the diocese has assets and insurance. A bankruptcy is simply a way to give the diocese a legal ‘time out’ from the current litigation so that one judge can ultimately decide a fair way to compensate all people who timely file a claim in the bankruptcy,” explained Michael Pfau, a sexual abuse attorney at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala. “Now is the time for Buffalo survivors to come forward and file a claim with the bankruptcy court in order to ensure their rights are protected.”

James Marsh of the Marsh Law Firm adds that the bankruptcy filing “should not and will not prevent survivors from seeking justice and accountability. For decades, the Diocese of Buffalo enabled and covered up crimes against the most vulnerable parishioners. We will fight in court and in every venue to ensure the diocese answers for the lives they endangered, and in some cases, destroyed.”

But Jeff Anderson, who represents some of the earliest lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act when the one-year lookback window opened last August, says the diocese “is using bankruptcy to continue to conceal the truth about predator priests in this diocese … We want to assure the survivors and their family members who have been harmed for so long that this is not the end. This will not stop us or the survivors, and we know there are battles to be fought.”