SPOKANE - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has proposed a new plan that would increase payouts to alleged victims of priest sex abuse and resolve its thorny bankruptcy case.

The plan reveals that the diocese might have $57.5 million available without selling any church property. That's double its initial estimate, The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review reported for a story in Saturday editions.

Diocese attorney Greg Arpin called the new estimate a "best-case scenario" that anticipates successful litigation against insurers. He said that would boost the payout to victims from about $15 million to $45 million.

The plan, proposed Friday, also includes what the diocese hopes will be a simple and successful claim against a Catholic society called the Sulpicians, which trains clergy.

Patrick O'Donnell, a former-priest who was trained by the society and worked for the diocese from 1971 until he was removed from the ministry in 1985, has admitted molesting more than a dozen boys.

In outlining a process to pay claims, the plan calls for a trust to be established for managing and administering money and claims. Two trustees would be named, and in turn would appoint three people to serve as claim reviewers.

One claim reviewer would be a doctor or a psychiatrist, another would be a mental-health expert and the third would be a retired judge or an attorney, diocese attorney Shaun Cross said.

Claims would be valued according to five categories, ranging from clergy showing pornography to a child (which could bring a victim $15,000 or more) to intercourse with children (which could award up to $1.5 million to a victim).

Once reviewers placed a value on a claim, it would serve as a settlement offer. If the victim or the diocese don't approve, either party could reject the offer and send the claim to state court for trial.

There's a risk that the trust could run out of money before all the claims are paid. The diocese has given no assurance that it can get enough money from its insurers to cover all its claims. A trial on the policy payouts is due in October.

The diocese's plan sets up a first-come, first-paid scenario, which means the money pooled into the trust could be depleted as victims who choose to accept the claim reviewers' offers are paid first.

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