BishopAccountability.org
	Judge Orders Names Stricken Lawyers for Alleged Victims Told to Edit Church Files before Making Them Public By Michael Fisher The Press-Enterprise [California] August 31, 2005 Lawyers said Wednesday that it will take them weeks to edit and release the depositions of a handful of witnesses who testified in some of the clergy sexual abuse lawsuits pending in Southern California, including some cases targeting the Inland diocese. On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz rejected a request by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to seal the depositions. In making his tentative decision, the judge said the archdiocese failed to show how releasing the depositions would prejudice future jurors against the church. Fromholz's ruling, expected to be finalized this week, allows another 20 witnesses over the age of 80 to be deposed. Five of the witnesses are tied to cases involving the San Bernardino or San Diego dioceses, lawyers said. Attorneys and officials with the San Bernardino Diocese could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Both church attorneys and lawyers for the alleged victims dubbed the ruling a partial victory. The ruling states that before the documents are released, attorneys must strike the names of alleged victims, any current or past diocesan workers or priests, and other proved or alleged victims. Documents concerning or references to church doctrine or a defendant's medical, employment or financial records would also have to be stricken. Attorney Tim Hale, whose client is suing the Inland diocese claiming he was sexually abused by the Rev. Edward Rodrigue, who is no longer a priest, in Ontario, said he was frustrated that the judge's order only allows depositions of witnesses who are 80 or older. "The potential for lost testimony is scary," Hale said. Donald Woods, an attorney for the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the lead defense liaison counsel, said there are no plans to appeal Fromholz's decision. Wood said it will take weeks for the two sides to review the depositions and reach agreements as to what must be stricken. He said of the 15 or so depositions already taken only a few involved cases against the Diocese of San Bernardino, which encompasses Riverside and San Bernardino counties, or the Diocese of San Diego. The depositions were taken during the last four months. The depositions represent just a sliver of the hundreds of witnesses expected to testify in the 850 clergy-related sexual-abuse cases in Southern California. Faced with an avalanche of clergy abuse cases two years ago, state court officials assigned the Southern California cases to Fromholz, splitting the 140 cases brought against the San Bernardino and San Diego dioceses from the more than 550 cases against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange. Instead of heading for courtrooms, the cases are in limbo as attorneys meet behind closed doors to try to hammer out settlements. In December, the Diocese of Orange settled its 86 pending cases for $100 million. More than 20 cases target 14 Catholic clerics or religious brothers who worked in the Inland area since the mid-1950s. Seventeen of those pending cases involve the Diocese of San Bernardino and, in most instances, also the Diocese of San Diego, which managed Inland parishes until 1978.