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	Court: Release Secret Files on Priest Abuse of Children By Daniel Tepfer Connecticut Post May 22, 2009 http://www.connpost.com/ci_12431310 Court orders Bridgeport diocese to make public documents relating to sex abuse cases HARTFORD -- The state's highest court Friday cleared the way for the public review of hundreds of secret church documents regarding allegations of abuse of children by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. By a 4-1 vote, the state Supreme Court dismissed efforts by diocesan lawyers to keep under wraps hundreds of pages of depositions, internal church memos and other documents that detail how top church officials, including then-Bishop Edward Egan, allegedly protected abusive priests. Egan went on to become the cardinal of the New York Archdiocese, but Bridgeport diocese fought fiercely to keep the documents. Egan, 77, retired as cardinal earlier this year. The documents were sealed as part of a mass lawsuit filed against the diocese in Bridgeport Superior Court by two dozen people who claimed they were abused by priests in the 1970s and early 1980s. In March 2001, the Bridgeport diocese agreed to pay $15 million to settle the lawsuit, but the documents remained under seal. Subsequent lawsuits and claims later brought the total the diocese would pay out in excess of $30 million. Lawyers for the Bridgeport diocese claimed that a judge who earlier ordered the documents unsealed, Waterbury Superior Court Judge Jon Alander, had a conflict of interest because he has supported openness in the state courts. "We are deeply disappointed that the Connecticut Supreme Court has failed to uphold the diocese's right to a fair adjudication of its claim by an impartial judge, Judge Jon Alander -- a right that is fundamental to any legal proceeding," said Diocese of Bridgeport spokesman Joseph McAleer. He said diocesan officials are reviewing their options. The diocese has two weeks to decide whether to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it decides not to further appeal the case, court officials said a judge in Waterbury Superior Court, where the hundreds of documents are currently kept, will decide how to make them public. Without the diocese's filing a motion for reconsideration, the records may be open in about 10 days. Bridgeport attorney Cindi Robinson has represented more than two dozen people who claimed they were abused as children by priests in the Bridgeport diocese. She said Friday that her firm has consistently supported opening the files to the public. "It makes perfect sense that the public should have access to documents filed in a public court, especially when it involves the sexual molestation of children," she said. In December 1994, Superior Court Judge Bruce Levin in Bridgeport granted a diocesan motion to keep secret all documents related to the cases. The documents include a transcript of an interview with New York Cardinal Edward Egan, then bishop of the Bridgeport diocese, who had been accused of hiding the abuse. Attorneys representing victims of alleged abuse by priests in the Bridgeport diocese in the 1970s and '80s painted a picture of a church hierarchy that ignored public complaints, moved accused priests from parish to parish and did not report complaints to civic authorities. Many critics of the diocese's handling of the abuse allegations credit Bishop William E. Lori, who succeeded Egan in 2000, for dealing forcefully with the issue. The battle to open up the sealed records began after Waterbury Superior Court Judge Robert F. McWeeny first granted four newspapers -- Hartford Courant, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and Washington Post -- the right to intervene in the closed cases and seek the documents. The Diocese of Bridgeport appealed that decision, but lost. The matter was remanded to the Waterbury court, where Judge Alander ruled in 2006 ruled that the files should be public record. The diocese appealed Alander's ruling, sending the case back to the state Supreme Court for the second time. This time the diocese claimed Alander had a conflict of interest because he had been appointed to a judicial panel reviewing public access to court records. The diocese also claimed the conflict was compounded by the fact that a Hartford Courant reporter was also on that panel. "In light of all of the considerations that the task force was charged with taking into account, we conclude that no reasonable observer would have inferred that Judge Alander could not be impartial," the Supreme Court ruled. In a dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice William Sullivan stated: "A person of ordinary intelligence and experience would have reason to question Judge Alander's impartiality in the present case "¦" Also lost in the Friday decision is the fact that, during the litigation claims of the 1990s, the victims and their lawyers had access to the records in question under seal. In 2001, the claims were settled, and the court records, including documents under seal, were set to follow the standard procedure for all claims settled before trial and be destroyed. Sen. Andrew J. McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he read the decision, written by Associate Justice Joette Katz of Fairfield, shortly after it was posted on the court's Web page Friday morning. "It was very important that the Supreme Court back up in its decisions what the Judicial Branch has said publicly and that is that judicial records are going to be open and accessible for the public to review," McDonald said in an interview in the Capitol. Staff writer Ken Dixon contributed to this report. Timeline of sexual abuse claims against the diocese Jan. 4, 1993: Sharon See and Brian Freibott file suit in against the Diocese of Bridgeport, claiming they were sexually abused by the Rev. Raymond Pcolka when they were children. Feb. 16, 1993: Eleven more claiming abuse by Pcolka file suit. May 1994: The diocese pays $250,000 to two men who claimed they were abused by the Rev. Laurence Brett in the 1960s. Feb. 28, 1995: Two claim in lawsuits that they were abused by the Rev. Joseph Gorecki. April 25, 1995: Suit claims abuse by the Rev. Charles Carr. June 13, 1995: Diocese settles suit with man who claimed he was sexually abused by the Rev. Walter Coleman in the 1980s. Sept. 24, 1996: A lawsuit claims abuse by the Rev. Martin Federici. Aug. 26, 1997: New Haven federal court jury awards $750,000 to former altar boy Frank Martinelli, who claimed he was sexually abused by Brett. The diocese later agrees to settle case for an undisclosed sum. Oct. 7, 1997: Deposition taken from then-Bishop Edward Egan. March 4, 1998: The diocese settles a lawsuit by a man who claims he was sexually abused by the Rev. Gavin O'Connor at a Shelton church in 1977. Nov. 24, 1999: All abuse lawsuits against the diocese are moved to Superior Court in Waterbury.
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