Milwaukee archdiocese ordered to release documents on ties with judge in cemetery case

August 09, 2013

A bankruptcy-court judge has ordered the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to provide documents showing any links between the archdiocesan cemeteries and a federal judge who recently ruled in favor of the archdiocese in a case involving the sheltering of funds for the cemeteries.

Late in July, Judge Rudolph Randa ruled that the Milwaukee archdiocese had acted within its rights in setting aside money for a trust fund to provide care for the cemeteries. The money in that trust fund became inaccessible to creditors of the archdiocese, including sex-abuse victims. Lawyers for the creditors suggested that Judge Randa might have a financial interest in the cemeteries.

In bankruptcy court, Judge Susan Kelley ordered the archdiocese to produce any documents relating to interests that Judge Randa and his family might have in archdiocesan cemeteries. Judge Kelley stressed that in granting the plaintiffs’ requests for the documentary evidence, she was not ruling on whether Judge Randa should have recused himself from the case.

 

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Further information:

• Judge orders Milwaukee archdiocese to release cemetery documents (Journal-Sentinel)
• Federal judge vindicates Cardinal Dolan, rules Milwaukee archdiocese right to shield cemetery funding (CWN, 7/30)