![Bishop Michael W. Fisher](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=150%2C105 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=200%2C140 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=225%2C157 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=300%2C209 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=400%2C279 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=540%2C377 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=640%2C447 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=750%2C524 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=990%2C691 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C723 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C838 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C931 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C1031 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0d/60d3c84a-4456-11ef-923a-dbf5dab472d4/61e83ffab312b.image.jpg?resize=1723%2C1203 2008w)
Bishop Michael W. Fisher of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
A federal bankruptcy judge reduced by more than $100,000 the amount a law firm may bill the Buffalo Diocese for work to keep from the public secret records that show how the diocese handled sexual abuse complaints.
Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki on Wednesday ordered the reduction in fees owed to the Jones Day firm for fighting against the release of thousands of diocese documents sought by The Buffalo News in 2022 under the state’s Freedom of Information Law.
The News sought the diocese records from the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which had subpoenaed them during an investigation of the diocese.
The News wants the records to see how the Catholic Church kept abuse allegations against more than 200 priests under wraps, in some cases for decades.
The AG’s Office determined in 2023 that the records must be released under the state’s FOIL law.
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But the diocese had Jones Day file an Article 78 petition that asks a State Supreme Court judge to prevent the Attorney General’s Office from providing the records to The News.
Jones Day attorneys argued that the release of documents detailing sex abuse complaints against priests would undermine confidentiality in the bankruptcy proceedings and threaten efforts to reach a mediated settlement with 900 sex abuse claimants.
Bucki did not offer any opinion on whether disclosure of the records would interfere with the diocese’s Chapter 11 case. But he said Jones Day had overstepped its bounds by moving ahead with litigation in state court without the bankruptcy court’s approval.
“Jones Day never applied to this Court for authorization to expand the scope of its engagement as special counsel. Rather, it apparently viewed the Article 78 Proceeding as an extension of its approved role,” Bucki said in his decision. “At the very least, compensation for this new activity requires a robust and careful review.”
Bucki determined that much of Jones Day’s work on the Article 78 petition didn’t require the firm’s area of specialization in First Amendment issues for which it was originally hired in 2020 at much higher rates than other firms employed by the diocese.
Bucki said Jones Day’s work opposing the public release of diocese internal documents was “extraneous” and didn’t require “unique qualifications” that the diocese cited as reasons for retaining the firm to defend against a lawsuit brought by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Bucki did not question the amount of time Jones Day spent or the quality of the firm’s work.
But he said much of the work could have been done by a firm that charged cheaper rates, and Jones Day’s justification for its higher rates didn’t apply to the FOIL work.
Bucki also scolded the firm for charging $20,412 for opposing a request by The Buffalo News to file an amicus brief with the New York County State Supreme Court in support of the Attorney General’s decision to release diocese documents.
Bucki said Jones Day’s efforts were unnecessary and did not benefit the diocese. He rejected the firm’s request to be paid the $20,412.
“The judges of New York State are fully capable of deciding the legal arguments that an amicus brief may present,” Bucki said in his ruling. “Counsel may wish to challenge the merits of those arguments, but we see no benefit to the estate from efforts to silence the consideration of an opposing point of view. Nor did the proper administration of this case require opposition to the mere presentation of a legal argument.”
The judge also cut by $65,547 the amount Jones Day should be paid for fighting release of records under the state’s Freedom of Information Law.
Instead of Jones Day rates of up to $1,250 per hour, Bucki applied the blended rate of $379 per hour used by the diocese’s general bankruptcy counsel, Bond Schoeneck King to arrive at a compensation number.
Jones Day, Bucki said, may receive “reasonable compensation, but not at the enhanced rates that it was able to justify with regard to First Amendment issues.”
In June, per bankruptcy court rules, Jones Day submitted a bill of $235,214 for the court’s approval, citing work on behalf of the diocese from Aug. 1, 2023 to Feb. 29.
That’s in addition to $2.7 million in legal fees and reimbursement of expenses that already had been approved by the court for Jones Days’ work dating back to 2020.
The diocese has spent more than $15 million in total on bankruptcy-related expenses, primarily legal fees, since filing for Chapter 11 in 2020.
After the diocese reached a settlement in 2022 with the state Attorney General’s Office, Jones Day attorneys assured Bucki that the firm’s involvement with the diocese bankruptcy case would “start to decline.”
Instead, the firm’s most recent fee application was more than twice the amount of a prior allowance awarded by the court last December.