In In re Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York,(SD NY Bkrptcy., April 19, 2023), a New York federal bankruptcy court held that two groups of claims filed in the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Reorganization of the Rockville Centre Diocese should be expunged. The claims grow out of alleged sexual abuse by Franciscan brothers that occurred outside of the Diocese. Claimants argued that the Rockville Centre Diocese had control over the Franciscan Brothers religious organization and so had control over the alleged abusers. The court said in part:
It is well-established under New York law that for the Diocese to be liable for torts of alleged abusers, the Diocese must have had a duty to control them....
The Brooklyn Claimants’ position is that the Objection fails to settle the question of “control” as a matter of law considering the internal rules of the Catholic Church, and therefore there is a disputed fact that warrants discovery. The parties agree that the Franciscan Brothers operated the five schools and parishes at issue in the Brooklyn Claims, and the Brooklyn Claimants focus solely on whether the Debtor had control over the Franciscan Brothers. They contend that the Diocese had control over the Subject Entities through its control over the Franciscan Brothers....
The additional allegations in the Brooklyn Response frame Catholic Canon Law as a set of rules that govern employer-employee or principal-agent liability outside of secular legal principles governing these relationships. Not so. As discussed above, there is a clear constitutional prohibition on this Court weighing in on the parties’ dispute over Catholic Canon Law.... New York courts have rejected the argument that Catholic Canon Law imposes diocesan liability where secular law would not.
