Attorney General James Releases Statement on Start of St. Clare's Pensioners Trial

November 6, 2025

NEW YORK - New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement on the first day of her office's trial against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and the Diocese-controlled leadership of the former St. Clare's Hospital for failing to adequately fund, manage, and protect hospital employees' hard-earned pensions:

"No one should ever endure the financial and emotional burden of losing their retirement. St. Clare's Hospital's leadership deprived hundreds of nurses, social workers, lab technicians, and other employees of their pensions after they spent years working tirelessly to care for the sick. These workers deserve the pensions they worked hard for, and we are fighting to recover those funds and hold St. Clare's leadership accountable."

Attorney General James sued the Diocese, its bishops and other senior executives who led St. Clare's Hospital, along with St. Clare's Corporation in May 2022 for failing to preserve and protect the hospital's pension plan. The lawsuit alleged that the Diocese and the individual defendants violated their fiduciary duties under New York law by failing to take adequate measures to secure the employees' pensions, failing to make any annual contributions to the pension for all but two years from 2000 to 2019, and hiding the collapse of the pension plan from former hospital workers who were vested in the plan. In May 2025, a judge denied motions by the Diocese and the other defendants to dismiss the case before trial. Attorney General James is seeking to hold the defendants accountable and recover the pensions that the former hospital workers lost.

Today is the first day of trial before Judge Vincent Versaci of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Schenectady County.