Media seeks to open records in sex abuse cases

Two different judges in separate cities have made different rulings concerning the sealing of the lawsuits involving sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses.

On July 24 in Lexington, Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Julia Tackett issued an order keeping records in the sex-abuse lawsuit against the Catholic dioceses in Lexington and Covington sealed pending a hearing before a three-judge panel of the court. Tackett issued the order at the request of the Lexington diocese. The decision on whether to leave the lawsuits sealed is on hold until an Aug. 5 hearing.

Lexington lawyer Robert Treadway filed the lawsuit against the two dioceses in late May in which several unnamed plaintiffs allege that priests in the dioceses sexually abused them when they were minors.

The Lexington Herald-Leader is seeking to unseal the records and contends that sealing the lawsuit denies the news mediaís First Amendment rights to gather and report the news. The newspaper is also challenging the constitutionality of a state law that requires records to be sealed in a case filed five years or more after alleged sex abuse occurred.

The Courier-Journal filed a motion in Frankfort July 26 asking the court to immediately open all records of the sealed case against the Lexington diocese. The newspaper also asked that the court open all future hearings concerning the case.

The appeals court is scheduled to rule on the case Aug. 5.

In Louisville earlier last month, Jefferson Circuit Court judge James Shake refused to seal the lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse against the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville.

The archdiocese had attempted to block the lawsuits from being opened citing a 1998 law that allows lawsuits alleging sexual abuse to be sealed.

The Courier-Journal filed legal motions to block the archdioceseís attempts to seal the complaints. The C-J argued the 1998 law was unconstitutional because it allowed for ìsecret justice.î

Shake said the 1998 law cited that only lawsuits alleging sexual abuse filed against the abusers themselves could be sealed. These lawsuits are against the Archdiocese and therefore not covered under this law.

The lawsuits in Louisville allege that the priests and church employees ìengaged in a patternî of sexually abusing children and that the Archdiocese officials knew but did nothing about the alleged abuse.

In his written opinion on the case, Shake said he did not have to rule on the constitutionality of the 1998 law since it did not apply in this case because the suit was against the Archdiocese and not an individual.

The Kentucky Attorney General argued that since the 1998 law does not apply to this case ruling on the unconstitutionality was irrelevant.