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11-22820-rdd

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PACHULSKI STANG ZIEHL & JONES LLP 10100 Santa Monica, Boulevard, 11th Floor Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 277-6910 Facsimile: (310) 201-0760 James I. Stang, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) -and780 Third Avenue, 36th Floor New York, New York 10017 Telephone: (212) 561-7700 Facsimile: (212) 561-7777 Ilan D. Scharf, Esq. Counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of The Christian Brothers Institute and Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Chapter 11 In re: Case No. 11-22820 (RDD) THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS INSTITUTE, et al., (jointly administered) Debtors.

RESPONSE OF OFFICIAL COMMITTEE OF UNSECURED TO DEBTORS MOTION FOR ENTRY OF AN ORDER PURSUANT TO FED. R. BANK. P. 2004 DIRECTING PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS AND AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF SUBPOENAS TO OBTAIN ALUMNI DIRECTORIES The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the Committee) of the Christian Brothers Institute (CBI) and Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. (CBOI and, collectively with CBI, the Debtors), the debtors and debtor in possession in the above-captioned cases (the Cases) under chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code (the Bankruptcy Code), hereby responds (the Response) to the Debtors Motion for Entry of an Order Pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2004 Directing Production of 1
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Documents and Authorizing Issuance of Subpoenas to Obtain Alumni Directories (Motion) [Docket No. 167]. 1 In support of its Response, the Committee respectfully states as follows: RESPONSE 1. Through the Motion, the Debtors seek entry of an order authorizing them

to issue subpoenas to schools in order to obtain alumni directories from Institutions attended by children who may have been abused by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers (the Congregation). 2. As the Court noted (and the Debtors acknowledge), the Debtors are

obligated to give actual notice of a claims bar date to known creditors, including creditors whose identity is either known or reasonably ascertainable by the Debtors. (See Motion at 20). The Debtors filed their Cases primarily to address claims of sex abuse committed by members of the Congregation. Upon information and belief, claims of child abuse have been asserted against numerous members of the Congregation as far back as at least the 1940s. Thus, notice of a bar date should be sent to all students known to have attended a school where a known or credibly accused abuser could have had contact with children. 3. The Committee generally supports the Debtors request for authorization

to issue subpoenas for alumni directories provided that (a) the Debtors do not limit their efforts to identify known creditors to simple reviews of alumni directories and (b) that

Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings and definitions ascribed to them in the Motion.

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any order authorizing such subpoenas does not prejudice the Committees rights to seek to recover potential assets for the benefit of the Debtors estates. A. The Court Should Not Limit the Debtors Obligation to Identify and Provide Actual Notice to Known Creditors 4. The Debtors assert that [o]ther than parties who have made a complaint

or commenced suit against the Debtors, the Debtors have no way of knowing who may in fact assert a claim for sexual abuse. (Motion at 1.) The Committee is concerned that the Debtors may seek to limit their efforts to identify known creditors to a simple mailing to all alumni who attended an Institution during the same time as a credibly accused member of the Congregation. Sending simple notices in a mass-mailing will put the onus on sex abuse survivors to come forward based on a limited notice rather than a more targeted notice that should be provided to known sex abuse survivors.2 Thus, the Committee believes that in addition to obtaining alumni directories, the Debtors must conduct a thorough review of their records to identify known creditors. For example, if the Debtors or the Congregations records reflect that an official of a diocese wrote a letter to an official of the Congregation regarding allegations of abuse of a child by a member of the Congregation, then the Debtors should seek to determine the identity of any such accuser. The Debtors can review their own books and records to identify the child or subpoena such information from the diocese. As such, the Committee respectfully requests that any order authorizing the Debtors to issue subpoenas pursuant to the Motion include the following:

To the extent necessary, the Debtors should obtain (by subpoena or otherwise) documents from third parties, such as schools or diocese) that are likely to identify abusers or abuse survivors.

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Nothing herein shall be considered to limit the Debtors obligation to ascertain the identity of known creditors. B. The Court Should Clarify That It Is Not Determining That Any Institutions Are Separate From or Independent of the Debtors 5. The Debtors state that they do not have access to alumni directories as

most of the schools have been separately incorporated for years and operate independently from the Debtors. (Motion at 12). The Committee is investigating the assertion that the certain schools are separate and independent from the Debtors. Nothing in the proposed order authorizing the Debtors to issue subpoenas should be construed as addressing whether the various Institutions are independent of the Debtors. As such, the Committee respectfully requests that any order authorizing the Debtors to issue subpoenas pursuant to the Motion include the following: Nothing in here shall be construed as a finding of fact or conclusion of law that any of the Institutions is independent of the Debtors and the Committees rights to assert that any of the Institutions is not independent of the Debtors (under any theory) are expressly preserved.

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WHEREFORE, the Committee respectfully requests that the Court enter an order authorizing the Debtors to issue subpoenas only if it includes the language requested by the Committee. Dated: New York, New York November 29, 2011 PACHULSKI STANG ZIEHL & JONES LLP

/s/ Ilan D. Scharf Ilan D. Scharf, Esq. 780 Third Avenue, 36th Floor New York, NY 10017-2024 Telephone: (212) 561-7700 Facsimile: (212) 561-7777 -andJames I. Stang, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1100 Los Angeles, California 90067-4100 Telephone: (310) 277-6910 Facsimile: (310) 201-0760 Counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of The Christian Brothers Institute and The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc.

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