PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com
JANUARY 14, 2016
by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER.
A Philadelphia judge has ruled that documents and other evidence from pretrial proceedings in a lawsuit involving sexual abuse of minors by a Catholic priest remain public before trial.
The two-paragraph ruling by Common Pleas Court Judge Mark I. Bernstein was a legal setback for the Archdiocese, which had asked for an order barring public disclosure of the materials. The church has insisted on confidentiality as a condition for engaging in pretrial “discovery” with lawyers in suits seeking damages for being sexually molested by priests.
The ruling, filed Tuesday, was in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the church in November 2013 by Deborah McIlmail, whose son Sean, 26, died of an accidental drug overdose.
Marci A. Hamilton, who filed the McIlmail suit, said she believes this is the first time the archdiocese has been denied confidentiality in a priest sex abuse case.
Hamilton said she thinks one reason is that in filing suit McIlmail and her husband never sought anonymity for their son or themselves.
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