Louisiana Voice

After four-and-one-half years of foot-dragging, $40 million in legal and professional fees and little progress toward a resolution, events in the Catholic Church’s New Orleans Archdiocese appear to be suddenly moving at warp speed, including rumors of a pending high-level (as in the highest local level) retirement

Abuse survivors, some 500 or so of them, have filed a response to the court-appointed expert’s REPORT filed on October 21 that contain a few surprises, including a call that Archbishop Gregory Aymond be deposed along with a “corporate representative” of the archdiocese (other than Aymond), expert Mohsin Meghji and the husband-wife team of Wayne and Susan Zeringue.

Early word is that Aymond will refuse to cooperate on any proposed deposition and if ordered to participate, is expected to plead the Fifth Amendment on the basis of the ongoing criminal investigation into possible sex-trafficking by the church.

But the biggest surprise (though not really a surprise to some) is that Aymond may well announce his retirement in the coming days, perhaps as early as tomorrow (Thursday). That would follow the national trend of retiring bishops and archbishops in the wake of the wave of sexual abuse litigation that has spread from Boston to Los Angeles and points between.

Here is Meghji’s 35-page report, for which he was paid $350,000, or $10,000 per page:

One person who read the report said he was not impressed with Meghji’s work. “I’d like the opportunity to compare this Report with other Reports that Meghji has generated in other cases, and with similar Reports by other ‘experts’ that were generated in other Catholic Church bankruptcy cases across the country,” he said.

“Meghji’s Report is exactly what one should have expected as ‘an opening salvo’ from a ‘numbers cruncher’ or ‘bean counter.’ Note that on page three, Meghji states: ‘…an analysis of the underlying facts, claims, defenses or other factors related to the hundreds of sexual abuse proofs of claim asserted against the Debtor is beyond the scope of this Report.’ Translated into plain English from mediator language this means: ‘FACTS BE DAMNED; let’s start talking numbers,’ because the numbers are all that matter. ‘How much have you got? What are you willing to take?’

“Generally, in mediation-speak, it takes at least 15 minutes or so to reach this point, which will drive the discussions until the end of the process. Meghji cut to the chase in just a few pages. For this case to settle, the archdiocese and the apostolates will have to identify and be prepared to liquidate vast real estate holdings that have not yet been identified and valued accurately. If you represented an insurer of the church, would you pony up hundreds of millions of dollars in cash (that rightfully belongs to your shareholders) before the church and its apostolates have accurately identified and valued their real estate holdings, much of which will have to be liquidated via sales to third parties before any Survivor Trust can be funded and settlement reached?

“As I read Meghji’s Report, I couldn’t help but conclude that the man (who is under INVESTIGATION for having engaged in at least one attempt to curry favor so he could exercise undue influence with at least one official, namely a Texas bankruptcy court judge, who recently resigned from the bankruptcy court bench in Houston, but only after the same Judge had approved a large loan by the debtor in a bankruptcy case that benefitted Meghji directly) has an agenda.”

Here is the full seven-page response filed on Monday:

Funny thing about Meghji’s report is that nowhere in that October 21 report does he mention a mediation, apparently scheduled for November 5. Yet, the archdiocese’s insurer certainly got wind of such a mediation and on November 1 fired off a letter to bankruptcy judge Meredith Grabill requesting a seat at the table. Here is that letter:

So, why do the plaintiffs want both Zeringues deposed? Well, as LouisianaVoice pointed out on OCTOBER 1, Susan Zeringue is the executive counsel for the archdiocese, having replaced Wendy Vitter, wife of former U.S. Sen. David Vitter, upon Wendy Vitter’s confirmation as a federal district judge for Louisiana’s Eastern District.

Susan Zeringue was instrumental, as the top legal advisor for the archdiocese, in the hiring of New Orleans law firm Jones Walker to defend the archdiocese bankruptcy litigation. Her husband, Wayne, is a partner in the Jones Walker firm and among the Jones Walker invoices for services to the archdiocese were 11.8 hours charged by Wayne Zeringue – for communications with his wife – pillow talk, as one observer called it, at a rate of $400 per hour.

The problem with that is that Wayne Zeringue’s field of expertise is in maritime law. He has zero experience as a bankruptcy attorney. But what’s the harm of a little hint of nepotism as long as you keep it in the family?

The lawsuits thus far have generated only delay, delay, delay – and $40 million in legal and other expert fees – money that will go to the hired guns in suits while 500 alleged victims continue to wait.

And the meter’s still running…