Richard Tollner knows firsthand what the people who have sex abuse claims against the Buffalo Catholic Diocese are going through as the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case plods unresolved toward its fifth year.
Long Island diocese's exit from bankruptcy may signal future path for Buffalo Diocese
Feb 1, 2025
Buffalo News
Tollner filed a Child Victims Act lawsuit in 2019 accusing the Rev. Alan Placa of sexually assaulting him in 1975 when he was a 16-year-old student at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, which is part of the Town of Hempstead, Long Island. After the Diocese of Rockville filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, Tollner was appointed chairman of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, helping represent more than 600 people with sex abuse claims against priests and other employees of that diocese.
“The key part is exposure,” he said. “They fear exposure.”
The trials never happened. Instead, the diocese agreed in the fall to a $323 million settlement with sex abuse claimants, a plan that was confirmed by a federal bankruptcy judge Dec. 4.
Rockville Centre became the first diocese in New York with a confirmed reorganization plan, providing a potential blueprint for dioceses in Buffalo, Rochester, Ogdensburg and Albany.
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