Archdiocese’s legal fees at $7.58M | Guam News

The Archdiocese of Agana’s bankruptcy case is now estimated to have cost more than $7.58 million in legal and other professional fees alone, and the amount will continue to grow until nearly 300 survivors of Guam clergy sexual assaults are paid and the bankruptcy is resolved.

These are based on a review of federal court records in the archdiocese’s three-year-old bankruptcy case.

From Dec 1 to March 31, the amount of billings reached more than $1.6 million, which the court has yet to approve.

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US District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood reviews the charges and has the final say on whether they are reasonable and are to be paid.

The judge had cut a number of charges in prior billings that the law firms presented.

Overall, the judge has approved nearly $6 million in professional and legal fees and costs incurred since the archdiocese’s filing of bankruptcy in January 2019, and through November 2021.

But prior to the filing of the bankruptcy case, the archdiocese was already paying legal teams to work on matters related to the clergy sex abuse claims, that were largely exposed starting in 2016.

This means the total legal costs to the archdiocese is much more than the estimated $7.58 million.

The most recent interim applications for compensation, amounting to more than $1.6 million, which was mostly a result of costs related to the trial about Catholic parish and school assets.

The court ruled in favor of the abuse survivors in March. The ruling said parish and school assets could be used to pay survivors of clergy sexual assaults.

Now, the parties are back to negotiating a payment plan that they can then present to the court for a decision.

every minute

The archdiocese is under court mandate to pay for legal and other professional fees of those representing the archdiocese, as well as those representing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors.

Every minute that attorneys and other professionals work on the bankruptcy case is billed to the archdiocese.

Their court filings include details about phone calls, in-person or Zoom meetings, time spent and the amount billed.

These costs include up to $755 an hour in legal fees, and thousands of dollars for the transcripts of each of the witnesses deposited.

The time spent answering a Guam media representative’s phone call or email also is usually part of law firms’ billing.

Seven Guam and US-based law firms still involved in the archdiocese bankruptcy case recently submitted their interim application for compensation for professional services rendered from Dec. 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

A hearing on these proposed billings is scheduled for May.

Most of the law firms are now on their eighth interim application for compensation, while one is only on its first, and another on its second:

• $808,389 submitted by Stinson LLP, the Minnesota-based counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, mostly clergy sex abuse claimants. The court previously awarded the firm a total of $2,618,679, and most of that had already been paid by the archdiocese.
• $306,701 submitted by Elsaesser Anderson Chtd., the Idaho-based counselor for the archdiocese. The court previously awarded the firm a total of $1,370,886, and most of that’s already been paid by the archdiocese.
• $215,343 submitted by Camacho Calvo Law Group LLC, special counsel for the archdiocese. This is its first time to bill, since it’s just recently been hired to represent the archdiocese.
• $194,040 submitted by Patterson Buchanan Fobes & Leitch, special counsel for the archdiocese. The court previously awarded the firm a total of $710,722, mostly already paid by the archdiocese.
• $67,691 submitted by Guam-based attorney John Terlaje, counsel for the archdiocese. The court previously awarded the firm a total of $260,202, mostly already paid by the archdiocese.
• $13,143 submitted by Blank Rome LLP, archdiocese special insurance counsel. The court previously awarded the firm $235,116, mostly already paid by the archdiocese.
• $2,636 submitted by Hiller Law LLC, special counsel for the Creditors Committee, specifically in the Delaware bankruptcy case of the Boy Scouts of America. This is the second time the law firm has filed a fee application. The court previously approved an award of $4,440.38, that the archdiocese had already paid.

The archdiocese also previously paid a combined amount of $46,294 in professional service fees to Davis & Davis PC, special counsel; Deloitte & Touche LLP, finance professional; Pacific Human Resource Consulting; and LegalWorks Apostolate PLLC, special counsel.

Other professional service firms that the archdiocese paid as ordered by the court, from 2019:

• US Trustee, $144,178.
• ReMax Diamond Realty, $285,000.
• Cornerstone Valuation Guam, $95,855.
• Keen Summit Capital Partners, $145,141.
• Chief Appraisals, $9,700.

All these archdiocese expenses are separate and apart from the archdiocese’s eventual payment to survivors of rape and molestation by Guam priests and other clergy, dating as far back as the 1950s.

The archdiocese previously said it could pay abuse survivors between $27.96 million and $34.88 million.

Its creditors, mostly abuse survivors, filed their own payment plan calling for at least $100 million and real estate assets.

The parties have yet to release a joint proposed payment amount.