I'm learning, I have to be more aggressive, just go right up and ask anyone I see.  So before the hearing April 20th in Department 308, I asked both Donald Steier defense attorney for the pedophile priests and Tony DeMarco plaintiff attorney for hundreds of the priests’ crime victims, “What is the deposition that the judge agreed to keep sealed? I think it’s with law enforcement, the deposition of George Neville Rucker. The judge ordered it to be returned to the party who provided it. Who is that party?”

What deposition? Both attorneys seemed flummoxed. Which order which judge?   

Steier guffawed to me: “There are so many depositions in these cases, you think I remember one more than any other one? I can't remember everything. . . . " 

I'm trying to get Steier to stop running this tape by interrupting: “With Rucker, the only document the judge seems to agree with you needs to remain sealed. Who did the deposition?”

But Steier was going on and on, “I can’t remember everything I do, I can’t remember everything I write or say,” then from a foot higher than me he is in my face saying: “I don't remember a lot of things, I don't even remember who you are.” 

Silence. Okay, there’s jocularity between opposing parties and then there’s arrogance.  I went into the courtroom convinced the new mantra for American liars is “I don't remember, I don't recall,” we've heard it in U.S. Senate hearings and every time a Catholic Church hierarchy person goes under oath. 

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The 11 o'clock hearing began and the rogue deposition of George Neville Rucker came up, who has it, where is it, what is in it, and how can the judge rule on whether it should be sealed if she doesn't even know what it is.  Here is the gist of what was said in the hearing April 20th. (I do transcription for a living for TV production so I'm REAL fast and accurate. Most of the following lines would be found in the Hearing transcript if you could ever afford to buy one. )

JUDGE: I don't understand why a privilege log.

SEAN KNEAFSEY: Just categories of information such as nonparties including employees of the archbishop.

(Sean Kneafsey is one of several teams from several law firms that represent the L.A. Archdiocese corporation in these cases.)

(Judge Elias doesn't understand why it should be sealed.)

KNEAFSEY: For some reason it got put in the public court file, we believe it should remain sealed.

JUDGE: Okay the Miani one and then another one?

KNEAFSEY: The Miani one was filed under seal and there has been no argument over it. With the Rucker privilege log, that was erroneously filed in support of a motion to compel by a plaintiff’s lawyer. It has information such as names of individuals, it should have been lodged under seal with notice to all parties. I don't believe parties for Father Rucker realized until later that it hand’t been filed under seal when it should have been.

JUDGE: But you don’t represent the priests.

STEIER: He’s just articulating on my behalf, your honor, thank you. The only reason these documents were ever prepared was in response to motion to compel discovery. There would be no other reason for a privilege log to begin with.

JUDGE: What is the name of the priest again?

KNEAFSEY: We have a list of what box all the documents are in, and I can submit the location to you.

JUDGE: Oh this document is in one of the exhibit rooms. I don't know if there still is anything in the exhibit room. We don’t know, we're working on it now.

DEMARCO: There has to be good cause to keep them under seal. There still has to be good cause even if they're discovery. That said, these documents, the prior protective order pertained to specific information, if the opponent wants it sealed it should be only to that information.   

JUDGE: Here’s the thing, I don't have them. What you've given me is a privilege log. 

KNEAFSEY: I have copies of it in my officer, your honor. All the boxes were numbered and all the files were numbered so we can give directions to whoever has those documents as to where they're located.

JUDGE: The only person objecting is the one person whose name is in it. I need a copy of what was in the privilege logs. I don't have the privilege logs because they're over in those boxes. (OVERLAPPING DISCUSSION) Give me the box number and the location. I'm happy to look at them, but I don't believe I’ve ever even gotten them.

KNEAFSEY: Your honor has already ruled that discovery documents are sealed,

JUDGE: They don’t fall under two point five oh. Just get me a copy of them, as soon as I see them, I’ll rule. These seem to be the only documents left. 

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AFTER THE HEARING WAS OVER, the Judge Elias talked casually to DeMarco and Kneafsey. The Court Reporter was not listening, but I was standing behind the barrier that keeps the public from coming through and strangling attorneys ….  I mean, I was standing there, already packed up my Acer but grabbed some paper and started taking notes, obviously listening as Judge Emilie Elias talked over the problem with the remaining documents with the two attorneys.

Some of the paralegals are “not putting them in the right envelopes” or other mistakes, so the Clerks are rejecting them and turning them back. 

JUDGE: The Clerks know this stuff. The Plaintiffs want some of these documents sealed too. They have personal information about employment, their names. 

Apparently this is a logistics problem in civil court with a lot of cases and Judge Elias is on a committee of judges and others who are trying to resolve the problem. 

JUDGE: we do an education program on sealing documents for everyone. Everyone who wants to do it right.

[OVERLAPPING CONVERSATION]: SOMEONE:  That creates a lot more work:

JUDGE: [INTERRUPTS] Following laws takes work.

She set up a breakfast meeting for their paralegals to meet with her in June.

The Wheels of Justice Grind Slo-o-o-o-owly…..

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DEMARCO IS TRYING TO GET A NEW TRIAL IN THE FRESNO CASE

Where the Jury awarded $0 to two plaintiffs.

Problem is in order to get a new trial, plaintiffs have to petition the same judge who apparently agreed pretrial with defendants on issues such as Introduction of evidence, so in the end in the Fresno trial there were days like this reported at Injury Board

 

Here is some sense of how the Hispanic culture prevents justice from happening in priest sex abuse cases where the jury pool is mostly Hispanic Catholic: From Abuse Tracker by Kathy Shaw  April 20th.

 

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The same week the LA Archdiocese began to realize they were losing the fight to seal documents, Room 106 where you could easily view documents closed for renovation, then reopened with everything still operating except the two rows of monitors where you used to be able to sit for 20 minutes, or longer if no one was waiting, and get hours of research done. Now there are two terminals combined in a room with every other service provided to the public, half a dozen people are in line for the terminals most of the time. You can spend ten minutes doing research, and then get back in the end of the line. With the thousands of documents about the 510 cases against the L.A. Archdiocese, it takes a good five minutes to even access the one you want to read. Routine civil cases usually have one case file, so people in the main public room can still ask for the paper file and sit down and read it. But with 510 civil cases that settled after two years of pretrial litigation, there is no way a journalist trying to research the Clergy Cases can get access to the documents well enough access to do meaningful research. So L.A. Superior Court has found a way to keep the public from reading the case files against Roger Mahony and the Catholic Church in Los Angeles.

 There is more in my notes from the April 20th hearing. Mainly the judge wants to postpone decisions until the Hightower Decision comes down from the Supreme Court. LA City Buzz has to do some more reading….