Oakland Diocese Creditors Oppose Bid to Pause Some Fee Payments

A California Catholic diocese’s request to withhold more legal fee payments until the end of its bankruptcy prompted pushback from junior creditors, who questioned the church’s claims of financial strain and noted that its liquidity nearly doubled in late 2024.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland is attempting to “control the purse strings and, in turn, gain a litigation advantage by forcing” its official unsecured creditors committee’s lawyers and advisers to “finance the bankruptcy,” the committee said in a Wednesday objection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

The dispute over the diocese’s request to increase ...