Buffalo Diocese Judge Won’t Reverse ‘Opt-Out’ Liability Ruling

A bankruptcy judge won’t reconsider his ruling that the Diocese of Buffalo’s $280 million bankruptcy plan can’t force voting creditors to surrender their right to sue church affiliates without express consent.

However, he agreed to send the matter directly to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki, in an order Friday, rejected requests from the Buffalo Catholic diocese and a committee of sex abuse claimants to change his mind on his prior ruling requiring creditors to affirmatively opt in to the plan’s third party liability releases.

But in the same order, Bucki noted ...