Insurers could pay $100 million settlement to Baltimore Catholic abuse survivors

Luke Parker, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 7, 2026

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BALTIMORE — A potential $100 million insurance payout will go to local survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, marking what survivors’ attorney Jonathan Schochor called “a very significant step forward” as negotiations in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case continue.

“We are hoping that this momentum shift will get things moving with the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which, let’s be frank, they’re the enablers,” Schochor said.

Friday’s settlement between The Hartford insurance company and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents more than 900 survivors, comes more than two-and-a-half years into this chapter of the archdiocese’s legal front.

The agreement with Hartford Insurance depends on approval of a broader plan by the court.

Days before the Maryland Judiciary was set to cut its filing deadline on child sex abuse claims, the Archdiocese of Baltimore declared bankruptcy in late 2023, effectively rushing ahead of the docket to protect its assets.

Since then, piles of lawsuits have stalled in state court as the bankruptcy case continues, awaiting some kind of plan or payment from the church or its insurers.

Church spokesperson Christian Kendzierski said Tuesday that the archdiocese “continues to be committed to the process and working with the Survivors Committee and others to achieve an agreed-upon resolution of these reorganization proceedings.”

Matthew Sturdevant, a spokesperson for The Hartford, said that the insurance company, generally speaking, does not “comment on active proceedings beyond what is available in court records.”

In October, as the bankruptcy case entered its third year of litigation, the church and the survivors were still hundreds of millions of dollars apart on a potential settlement.

The figure offered by the archdiocese would have resulted in about $35,000 per claimant, almost half of the church’s average settlement before the deadline law was changed.

The survivors committee, meanwhile, asked for nearly $890 million.

Despite some optimism to start the new year, on Tuesday, Schochor said he would still describe negotiations with the church as “not productive.”

“They need to be responsible. They need to be held accountable and they need to compensate the survivors,” the lawyer said. “We have not arrived at that point yet, not even close.”

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