NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Connecticut · June 1, 2009 · Secret courts
Connecticut court unseals priest abuse documents
Keywords: Court records; Sealed cases; Sealed records; Secret settlements
In a ruling due to be formally published this week, the Connecticut Supreme Court has found that documents filed in more than two dozen civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport should be unsealed.
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The lawsuits, which alleged sexual abuse, were brought against the diocese and six priests in the mid-1990s. The judge then handling the case sealed documents that he felt could jeopardize the defendants' right to a fair trial, until a jury had been selected. But the cases all settled in 2001 without going to trial.
In 2002 The New York Times sought to intervene and have the records unsealed. The Boston Globe, Hartford Courant and The Washington Post all joined the case later. The newspapers' request made its way up to the Connecticut Supreme Court once before, but was sent back down for further proceedings. In 2006, the trial court ruled that the documents should be released. The reasoning went that the basis for sealing them -- to protect the defendants' right to a fair trial -- had expired and the church had not raised a strong argument for keeping them under seal.
The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld that analysis in Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., a 4-1 decision. The court also announced that to determine whether a document is a "judicial document," and thus presumed to be available to the public, it would examine whether a court reasonably could rely on it as part of its "adjudicatory function," which would be broadly defined.
The ruling takes effect Tuesday, when the opinion is published in the Connecticut Law Journal, the Catholic News Service reports. The court's decision would cause the release of more than 12,600 pages of documents, according to the news service.
— Jonathan Jones, 5:37 pm
Copyright 2009 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Comments: (2)
Comment by Sister Maureen Paul Turlish, Tue, Jun 2, 8:20am
This is a victory for truth and justice.
The members of the Connecticut Supreme Court have done the just thing and in doing so have made the morally right decision as well .
Now, as in the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, society will be privy to the rest of the story.
The one thing that could top this good news would be the passage of the Markey/Duane Child Victims Act in the State of New York.
In Delaware there are now no criminal or civil Statutes of Limitation in regard to the sexual abuse of children. There is still open a two year civil window for bringing forward previously time barred cases of abuse - BY ANYONE!
If you or anyone you know was ever sexually abused as a child in the State of Delaware by anyone, you have a few more weeks to register to bring a civil case.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims' Advocate
New Castle, Delaware
maureenpaulturlish at yahoo dot com
Comment by Albino Luciani, Tue, Jun 2, 9:01am
www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for daily verified & vetted reporting on the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) & the Roman "La Cosa Nostra" Pedo Curia. THE SOLUTION? "STOP DONATING LAITY" as St. Peter Damien correctly, & canonically sanctioned, asserted. There is no middle ground here laity, you are either a financial contributor to a pervasive & unpunished curia pedo cult, or you are not. HOW WIIL YOU ANSWER YOUR MAKER?! Fiat Lux & Veritas!
Albino Luciani, MURDERED POPE
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