Court clears way for archbishop's deposition

SF Gate
March 5, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Court-clears-way-for-archbishop-s-deposition-5291226.php

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Wednesday cleared the way for attorneys representing an alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse to interview Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt.

In a three-page order, Chief Judge Edward Cleary denied requests by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to block depositions of Nienstedt and former vicar general Kevin McDonough.

The plaintiff's attorney, Jeff Anderson, has scheduled Nienstedt's deposition for April 2 and McDonough's deposition for April 16, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/NV2MEC ) reported. Anderson had scheduled the depositions for March but postponed them because of the appeal.

"We're glad that we can move this thing forward, and that they saw this as the judge did," Anderson said.

The archdiocese said it appreciates that the court considered its appeal and issued a timely opinion.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the Court to resolve the litigation," the archdiocese said in a statement Wednesday.

The lawsuit against the archdiocese, the Winona diocese and former priest Thomas Adamson alleges sexual abuse by Adamson between 1976 and 1977 when he was assigned to a church in St. Paul Park.

Church lawyers petitioned the Court of Appeals on Feb. 18 to grant an emergency order to block the depositions, ordered by Ramsey County Judge John Van de North. They argued the depositions aren't relevant to the Adamson case and would be used by the plaintiff's attorneys as "a means of harassment, oppression and embarrassment to these witnesses, as well as for the purpose of self-promotion and negative publicity against The Archdiocese."