Oakland Diocese Asks to Postpone Bankruptcy Exit as Fees Climb

The Diocese of Oakland, Calif., asked to postpone its bankruptcy plan approval hearing from late August to mid-November, saying it’s struggling to cover growing fees charged by a committee representing clergy sex abuse claimants.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland doesn’t have the funds to implement a pending abuse settlement plan and also pay creditor committee legal fees that have “increased exponentially” over the last two months, it said in a filing Wednesday with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

The diocese, which is required by Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules to pay both its own lawyers ...