Rochester Diocese Beats Continental Insurance Bankruptcy Suit

A potential settlement between the bankrupt Diocese of Rochester and Continental Insurance Co. wasn’t a valid contract because it wasn’t signed, a judge ruled, dismissing the insurer’s breach of contract suit.

Continental accused the diocese of filing a proposed restructuring plan that violated a $63.5 million settlement agreement. The diocese submitted the restructuring proposal alongside a committee of sex abuse claimants after it had previously agreed to the deal with Continental, the insurer said in a suit filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York.

But the agreement was never signed, so Continental doesn’t have ...