Washington D.C., Aug 27, 2009 / 02:45 am
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal by the Diocese of Bridgeport to keep the personnel files of some of its employees sealed off from several major newspapers investigating the diocese’s handling of sexual abuse accusations. The diocese contends that the papers already had access to the files and that re-opening them would reveal private information not related to the abuse cases.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg notified attorneys in the case of her decision on late Tuesday, the Hartford Courant reports.
The material includes 12,600 pages of depositions, exhibits and legal arguments involving 23 lawsuits against seven priests from the Diocese of Bridgeport. Most of the lawsuits were filed in the mid-1990s and were settled in 2001 for an undisclosed amount with the agreement that the settlements and the documents would remain sealed forever.
In a Tuesday statement the Diocese of Bridgeport said it was “disappointed” that Justice Ginsberg declined to issue a stay in the case, named as “Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp. et al.”