Herman Katz Gisleson and Cain Helps Secure $230 Million for New Orleans Clergy Abuse Survivors After Five-Year Bankruptcy

In May 2020, the Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Eastern District of Louisiana, a move that channeled roughly 660 clergy sexual abuse claims into a single federal proceeding rather than individual civil trials. Survivors who had waited years to press their claims found themselves inside a bankruptcy estate where the institution controlled the flow of information and the cadence of negotiations.

Herman, Katz, Gisleson and Cain entered the case representing more survivors than any other law firm in the proceeding. Soren Gisleson, a partner at the firm, became one of the most visible voices for a subset of individual claimants, pressing the court to appoint an independent examiner, seeking testimony from Archbishop Gregory Aymond on church finances, and filing briefs that challenged the adequacy of proposed settlement offers as negotiations dragged on. The firm's lawyers argued that the archbishop, whom they identified as a figure who had enabled generations of abuse, should not be managing a bankruptcy meant to compensate those survivors.

After five years of litigation, the parties reached a plan of reorganization that was put to a survivor vote in the fall of 2025. The settlement called for $130 million from the archdiocese and its affiliates, approximately $70 million in anticipated proceeds from the sale of Christopher Homes (a portfolio of low-income senior housing), and around $30 million from insurers that chose to resolve their coverage obligations. In September 2025, the archdiocese raised its offer to $230 million after securing the Christopher Homes sale, and survivors voted in favor of the plan by the October 29 deadline.

Judge Meredith Grabill of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirmed the Seventh Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization on December 9, 2025, case no. 20-10846. In the same ruling, she rejected standing objections raised by Travelers Insurance Company, which had insured the archdiocese and its parishes during the period when many of the abuse claims arose and which declined to settle. Travelers' litigation against the settlement trust remains ongoing, and attorneys for survivors have said a favorable outcome there could bring the total fund to more than $300 million.

Beyond the monetary terms, the confirmed plan included a Survivors Bill of Rights, a seat for survivors on the archdiocese's internal review board, outside monitoring of child-protection practices, and a public archive of abuse-related documents to be held at LSU. Payments to the approximately 660 claimants, allocated through a point system tied to the nature and impact of the documented abuse, were expected to begin in the first half of 2026.