As it faces insolvency, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has filed lawsuits against four insurance companies, claiming that they did not fulfill their contracts to offer liability coverage for decades-old sexual abuse claims against the religious organization.
The organization is looking to raise enough money to settle a bankruptcy case, wherein over 400 people alleged that they were victims of clergy sexual abuse.
In its complaint, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe named the insurers Great American Insurance Company, Arrowood Indemnity Company, St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, United States Fire Insurance Company as defendants.
According to the archdiocese’s lawsuit, it sought coverage for sexual abuse claims in the 1990s. The organization claims that the named insurers sold it liability coverage between February 1953 and April 1986. The archdiocese also noted that some settlements have released certain other insurers from their obligation to cover for the abuse claims, but agreements with the defendants did not free them completely of liability.
Said agreements and coverage “remain in force to this day,” the archdiocese claimed in its suit, adding that the defendants have “ongoing obligations to provide insurance coverage for present and future sexual abuse claims.”
The archdiocese also accused the insurers of not fulfilling their contractual obligations to provide coverage for the abuse claims, nor have the defendants “accepted or acknowledged their obligations,” the complaint said. The actions of these insurers, the religious organization said, “have impeded and obstructed” its capability to reach a resolution in its insolvency process.
Aaron Boland, an attorney representing one of the sexual abuse accusers, told The Santa Fe New Mexican that the lawsuit will “open the door for the real conflict to be in view,” adding that it is a positive step towards closing the settlement with the victims.
“The hope is this will move things toward justice,” Boland said.
