SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is hit with a lawsuit just weeks after it announced it could potentially file for bankruptcy.
Cardinal Robert McElroy wrote in a letter earlier this month that the diocese was running out of money after settling previous abuse claims and that with more claims on the way bankruptcy could be the only option.
Attorney Irwin Zalkin, who is representing more than 100 more victims, claims in 2019, the Diocese transferred 291 properties to individual parishes, ahead of the passage of a state law that extended the statute of limitations for alleged victims of sex abuse.
"This diocese and its parishes have engaged in a conspiratorial enterprise to defraud child abuse victims and to deny them the justice they deserve," said Zalkin.
Zalkin claims the diocese transferred these real estate holdings in order to claim it lacked the money to settle any future abuse cases.
In a statement to NBC 7, the Diocese says the transfer of properties was part of a decade-long effort to legally separate each parish and its assets from the assets of belonging exclusively to the diocese.