Court orders release of church abuse records

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Court of Appeals ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis on Thursday to release two decades' worth of sexual abuse allegations against priests.

But the archdiocese quickly announced it would appeal the ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court. No deadline for the release was included in the order by the Court of Appeals' Eastern District.

The developments were the latest in a suit brought by a female plaintiff and her lawyer, who want to obtain archdiocese records of 234 complaints made against 115 priests.

The woman sued in 2011, alleging she was molested as a child by a priest who was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy and then reassigned to new parish after receiving treatment. The lawsuit contends the archdiocese has shown a pattern of covering up abuse.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker had given the archdiocese a Jan. 3 deadline to release the records, but the Court of Appeals' Eastern District issued a temporary stay that day.

Ken Chackes, the plaintiff's lawyer, said he was pleased with Thursday's ruling.

"It fully supported Judge Dierker's decision, which we thought was fair and reasonable," Chackes said.

Attorneys for the archdiocese had called Dierker's order "pure error and a clear abuse of discretion." But Court of Appeals Judge Glenn Norton wrote Thursday the order "adequately addressed" privacy concerns by the archdiocese, and found the documents are relevant to the civil claim.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Angie Shelton responded with a statement: "We respect the trial court's efforts to build mechanisms to address these challenging issues, but we continue to disagree that an unprecedented invasion of third parties' lives is warranted."

Lawyers for the archdiocese had argued releasing the names of the accusers would "be harmful to them" based on "unrebutted evidence from expert medical professions." They also voiced concern that the plaintiff's lawyers, if given the names of victims, could cause emotional damage by stirring up traumatic memories.

Dierker's order stresses neither the plaintiff nor her attorney can directly contact those who filed the complaints. A court-appointed attorney will make the initial contact to see whether victims want to cooperate.

The trial date is Feb. 24.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com