MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune
By Tom Olsen on Sep 29, 2014
Internal church documents and deposition testimony in two ongoing sex abuse lawsuits against the Diocese of Duluth can remain confidential, a judge ruled recently before recusing himself from hearing the cases.
Sixth Judicial District Judge David Johnson last week granted the diocese’s motion for a protective order on evidence and pretrial testimony, acknowledging that there is significant public interest in the cases, but citing the need to protect the jury pool.
The order will allow any party to designate any document as confidential if it includes sensitive information, such as the names of sex abuse victims or details about the church’s handling of abuse allegations and clergy personnel matters.
“The court is not naïve in thinking that blocking public access to this information will somehow insulate the public from the general issues involved,” the judge wrote, “but it will protect the parties from unfettered public access to documents and testimony pertaining to victims and local churches and church officials prior to the resolution of this case. Although there are no guarantees, a protective order is the best chance the court has to protect the jury pool from contamination.”
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