When the Archdiocese of Milwaukee entered into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, an anonymous victim of abuse at the hands of one of the Archdiocese priests sought to make a further claim despite the fact that he had settled with the Archdiocese in 1974 for the sum of $80,000.

The new claim was based on the Archdiocese telling the victim in 1974 that $80,000 was the most they could settle for.  He later discovered other victims had received as much as $200,000.  An initial bankruptcy court ruling allowed the claim to go forward.

However, a later ruling found that the basis for the new claim stemmed from communication conducted during the mediation process that led to the 1974 settlement.  Under state and federal law, communications in mediation are protected, private, and cannot be entered as evidence in any court action.  This level of privacy is often touted as one of the key benefits of mediation over litigation, where all evidence is considered public.

The anonymous victim also stated that denial of his new claim would result in a “manifest injustice” because of the disparity of power between himself and the Archdiocese in 1974, when he was 17, deaf, and unrepresented by an attorney.  Manifest injustice could be used to undermine the claims of confidentiality stemming from the mediation.  However, the court also ruled that this exception was not applicable because under Wisconsin law the new dispute must be “distinct” from the previous one, which is clearly not the case here.