The legal team representing the St. Clare’s Hospital pensioners has filed a motion requesting the case be sent back to state court.
In March, the Diocese of Albany announced it was filing for bankruptcy. Bishop Ed Scharfenberger insisted that the diocese didn’t see any other alternative, after settling 50 of over 400 cases brought under the Child Victims Act.
The filing put a hold on the lawsuits involving 1,100 St. Clare’s pensioners who worked at the former hospital in Schenectady. They lost some or all of their retirement savings when, in March 2019, the St. Clare’s Corporation petitioned the state Supreme Court to dissolve, claiming it had run out of money.
Six months later, a group of advocates, including the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and the AARP, filed a lawsuit against the Diocese seeking damages for the pensioners.
In late 2022 a judge ruled the pensioner’s should merge with one filed in May by the Attorney General’s office.
Meryl Grenadier is a Senior Attorney at AARP Foundation.
“Our clients are what is considered, what is called ‘unsecured creditors’ in the bankruptcy proceeding,” said Grenadier. “And in order to obtain any money out of the bankruptcy