By Kay Ebeling
Examiner
April 2, 2009
http://www.examiner.com/x-1960-LA-City-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m4d2-Words-spoken-in-court -yesterday-posted-here-read-like-a-script
When the judge responded, "That's ridiculous!" to an argument by a church attorney in court Wednesday, I realized the drama, duplicity, abuse of the legal system is all in the actual words spoken at hearings and in filed documents, when it comes to the Catholic Church and its handling of pedophile priests. Like the Boston cases came to life on stage in Sin: A Cardinal Deposed by Michael Murphy, I found a revealing scene in the notes I took during the hearing in L.A. Superior Court Department 308 Wednesday April 1st, transcribed blow. The lines here are very close to what will be on the legal transcripts as I'm fast and accurate.
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| Church Attorney Lee Potts |
JUDGE EMILIE ELIAS: You're saying the archdiocese doesn't exist here.
LEE POTTS: (Jumps up gets out a few words and then)
JUDGE: No-no-no you can't (Stops herself) You're saying there is no entity of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
POTTS: I don't want to sound like there is not an entity called the Archdiocese. (thinks, hesitates) It's a geographical construct.
JUDGE: That's ridiculous. You can't call it a geographical-.
POTTS: Well it's like, my wife and I lived in Studio City and for the longest time I couldn't convince her that it wasn't really a city-
(Déjà vu as I have watched Lee Potts do this same word game in 2007, he even used his wife in Studio City as an example, during pretrial hearings on the Clergy Cases back in Judge Haley Fromholz' court. Those cases never went to trial, they settled around 11 PM the night before first trial set to begin, in July 2007. Potts likes to claim plaintiffs served the wrong party as a way to get cases dismissed, and I believe Fromholz had this same astounded reaction to the claim that there really is no actual Archdiocese of Los Angeles as Judge Emilie Elias has here.)
JUDGE: But your fellow attorney Sean Kneafsey states here that he is the counsel for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
POTTS: That's just one stray piece of paper written by one liaison counsel at the last minute the night before a hearing the next day.
JUDGE: It's emailed on your letterhead. If the notice of service is bad, no problem, you can re-serve. But this GAME you're playing where you say there is no Los Angeles Archdiocese, that is not something I feel comfortable with. You're claiming confirmation of receipt on an entity that doesn't exist. If I served you as the King of Scotland, would you feel you had to confirm receipt?
POTTS: Probably.
JUDGE: Oh b-- (stops herself) (Reads numerous references in Defense motions that use the word "archdiocese.")
POTTS: (has become deflated as she speaks, then) It says something to the effect - I'll have to check, you can acknowledge receipt-
J: (Stops him) Don't do it.
POTTS: But, but-
JUDGE: Then serve again.
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POTTS: We never had an option to object to the case as it was never released. They can't have it both ways.
(I can't believe Potts is saying this not 30 seconds after trying to say there is no archdiocese, except where church attorneys choose to include archdiocese in their own verbiage. Talk about trying to have it both ways.)
JUDGE: I find this, um, I can't-
POTTS: An amendment doesn't correct this.
JUDGE: The answer is bring your fellow attorney Kneafsey in and swear him in to say who he represents.
(Potts does not seem enthused or willing to agree to do this, in fact, he only squirms in response)
POTTS: To motion to quash?
JUDGE: I'm not going to grant - I'll take it under submission, I'll write an order. . .
[NEXT HEARINGS WILL BE APRIL 20th, 11 AM in Dept. 308, Civil West, which is at 6th and Commonwealth. ]
LA City Buzz Will Be There.
To Read up on past activities in L.A. and national clergy cases go to
City of Angels Network 3 for the L.A. cases in 2007
City of Angels 4 For national coverage in 2008
City of Angels 5: Early 2009, before moving it all over here to LA City Buzz Examiner.
Mr. Potts did not want me to take his picture, and as soon as the light changed, he ran away:
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