Overturn judge's chilling ruling in priest lawsuit
A Jackson County judge’s ruling in a lawsuit involving an alleged pedophile priest is harmful and wrong.
By decreeing that a victim’s advocacy group must turn over thousands of emails to the attorneys of accused priest Rev. Michael Tierney, Circuit Judge Ann Mesle has compounded the damages borne by sexual abuse victims. Her ruling will serve to intimidate potential whistleblowers and discourage victims from coming forward with new allegations. Also, it chills the constitutionally protected right of journalists to gather information.
Mesle’s ruling potentially allows the perusal of decades worth of emails to and from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. Tierney’s attorneys allege that the plaintiff’s attorney violated a gag order issued by Mesle by contacting SNAP.
Attempts to review decades of emails to and from people not even involved in Tierney’s case makes this look more like a fishing expedition than a legitimate need to build a defense. The Missouri Press Association makes this point in an amicus brief. Kansas City attorney Jean Maneke says of Mesle’s order: “It would chill future news gathering. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that news gathering is protected under the First Amendment.”
SNAP has had decades of contacts with reporters from around the nation on issues having nothing to do with this particular case. It has received emails from many, many victims, whistleblowers and journalists with no ties to Tierney. Opening all such material to scrutiny would discourage communication on different matters in the future. Perhaps that is the ulterior motive of the motion?
An accused priest and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have every right to defend themselves against allegations. However, this fishing expedition is little more than a beefed-up version of a distasteful yet common approach to rape cases: Blame the victim — or the victim’s advocacy group.
That this argument was made is hardly surprising. That a judge bought into it is a setback for victims and for justice. The Missouri Supreme Court should reconsider its reluctance to review Mesle’s ruling.
Judy Block-Jones
1 year, 4 months agoIs it possible that child predators, church officials, and their lawyers are using any possible desperate tactic to:
— shut down SNAP — intimidate child sex abuse victims,witnesses, and whistleblowers to keep quiet — keep crimes of cover up and enabling child predators from being exposed — keep those who commit these crimes from being held accountable or jailed — protect child predators — makes parents and parishioners believe their child protection policy works — stop the media (their biggest fear) from reporting on this subject — keep the full ugly truth from being known
Victims who suffer from child sex abuse, you have more power than you sometimes believe. You are the ones who know the truth and you can help to stop this horrific abuse of power. We/SNAP are not stopping, and hopefully those who have knowledge, suspect, witnessed, or have been harmed will continue to speak up and contact the police.
Keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511 snapjudy@gmail.com “Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” and all clergy. http://www.snapnetwork.org/
David Clohessy
1 year, 4 months agoAnonymous: Get your facts straight. Neither the Star nor SNAP is the accuser. Neither the Star nor SNAP are involved in this litigation. A man who reports having been sexually violated by Fr. James Tierney is suing Tierney and Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and other Catholic officials.
Mike Winter
1 year, 4 months agoIf Bishop Finn or Fr. Tierney think that this victim or his lawyer have done something wrong, there’s a simple solution. They should tell the judge or investigate the victim or his lawyer (through subpoenas, interrogatories or depositions). But they aren’t doing that. They’re using this one civil lawsuit as a vehicle to harass and hurt a confidential self help group that helps victims and exposes predators. That’s a shrewd legal defense maneuver. But it’s wrong. And it’s chilling, with dreadful ramifications for any organization that crime victims rely on for help.
GM Spaner
1 year, 4 months agoLet’s walk through this event and look at the facts. A law suit has been filed by a person accusing a priest of sexually abusing them when they were a child. The judge hearing this case put a gag order on the plaintiff, defendant, and their attorneys after a preliminary hearing to prevent biasing the ultimate jury pool. Let’s not bother with the outlandish elitism of Judge Mesle that she believes that KC citizens are INCAPABLE of hearing the evidence presented by the plaintiff and defendant in court and making a logically reasoned assessment and correct conclusion, despite any reporting in the press or out of court statements by the attorneys. Let’s go to the fact that the gag was on the plaintiff, defendant, and their attorneys. How does SNAP come into this gag? The defendant’s attorneys have leapfrogged over the accused gag violator. Why?
Could it be that they KNOW there was no violation of the gag but they knew the judge would play the shill and allow them to make a totally unrelated and onerous request of SNAP. Have you seen or heard what is supposed to have been leaked by the plaintiff’s attorney to SNAP? No, I didn’t think so. Neither have I. If the defense attorneys suspect that the plaintiff’s attorney leaked information from the hearing, the LOGICAL AND PROPER person and party to subpoena is the PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY. Right? Why haven’t they?
Because this is not about violating a gag order, it is about intimidating victims, victim advocates, the press, and all organizations who assist persons who have been sexually attacked. The church claims confidentiality over the confessional; SNAP and other organizations dealing with victims have the same social and moral obligation. Let’s not forget that Tierney is facing FIVE lawsuits from people alleging abuse. This is a case about a potential child sexual predator. This is not a case of Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle’s SUSPICION that Clohessy “almost certainly has knowledge concerning issues relevant to this litigation.”
You and I have knowledge concerning issues relevant to this litigation if we read the papers and online articles. Should we be slapped with an omnibus subpoena for all our emails, electronic and paper documents that we have accumulated over the past 23 years? That’s what the attorneys for the Rev. Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have requested; thousands of pages of records and e-mails from SNAP because they “SUSPECT” the alleged victim’s lawyers leaked information to SNAP. SNAP was required to hand over all records related to Tierney and his diocese, priests currently or formerly associated with the diocese, communication with the unnamed man who filed the suit, and anything related to repressed memory. This is using a tsunami force wave for a fishing expedition. This is a gross miscarriage of the justice system … and Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph know it.
Kay Goodnow
1 year, 4 months agoThanks to the Star for this editorial. Thanks to GM Spammer for a logical response. Thanks to SNAP for literally saving my life a number of times. I believe that Tierney and his lawyers have developed a well-timed plan to draw attention away from the situation that Finn is facing here in the KC area, and from the fact that the conspiracy of silence as regards child abuse must finally end.
June Annette
1 year, 4 months agoGM Spaner,
Thank you for your sharing your precise and thoughtful analysis of these matters and for putting them in their proper perspective. You have very concisely assessed the situation and in so doing have exposed the real and sinister motive that underpins this most recent hostile maneuver on the part of the Roman Catholic “church” and her operatives to protect their assets, intimidate the victims, gag the media, and silence their critics. Resorting to such transparent bullying tactics once again reveals their moral bankruptcy. RIGHT-thinking people are not fooled!
The question remains . . as you have so rightly pointed out … “If the defense attorneys suspect that the plaintiff’s attorney leaked information from the hearing, the LOGICAL AND PROPER person and party to subpoena is the PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY. Right?”
And while for the moment the Roman Catholic “church” appears to have gained the legal advantage, unarguably at the same time, they have unwittingly managed to defeat their slick Madison Avenue PR campaign designed to inspire trust and instill confidence that they have “reformed” in the eyes of the “not so faithful” RC’s who have long since abandoned their sinking ship. The collective expressions of compassion and sympathy extended to victims of clergy abuse by the so-called “princes of the church” over the years have once again been exposed as disingenuous and feigned and their true spirit revealed by the overtly aggressive and hostile maneuver they have initiated in these matters in order to silence them once more. So long as they continue to subject the victims to this type of harassment and persist in their abusive treatment of them, they can expect their pews will remain empty and their collections will dramatically fall off and those who have opted out of the “not so holy” Roman Catholic “church” won’t ever be back. Ten years into the self-perpetuated Clergy Abuse Scandal and they still don’t get it and remain locked in their self-destruct mode. The ignoble course they have embarked upon will ensure they continue to be on the receiving end of the universal contempt, scorn, derision and disdain being meted out to them by the world and reserved for those who commit and cover up the abominable act of child abuse. Ironically the hard-ball tactics they have resorted to in order to ensure their survival will hasten their impending demise.
In solidarity with the VICTIMS of Roman Catholic Clergy Abuse & those who advocate for them,
JuneAnnette
Tom Carter
1 year, 4 months agoI think this has been covered by others in this thread, but I’d like to comment on the original posting by “Anonymous” who refers to the “offending lawyer”.
First off, if it is the lawyer that you feel committed the offense, then it would make sense to me that the court review the lawyer’s documents.
Second, let’s get straight what we feel is “offending”. Let’s go back to the original case involved and that case involves child abuse.
Fr. Tierney has been suspended by his own bishop because of credible child sex abuse reports. Fr. Tierney faces at least five civil child sex abuse lawsuits.
So when Fr. Tierney accuses someone else of wrongdoing (in this case, a lawyer for an alleged victim), we’d all be smart to reserve judgment before assuming someone has “offended” in any way.
Neil Allen
1 year, 4 months agoThe judge should make the Catholic confessions public. THere is nothing in the law that prevents that.
The judge should make all church communications on all pedophile priest documents public.
Leonard Maisch
1 year, 4 months agoIt is called the deep pocket theory. You go after the people with the money. The Catholic Church is the richest Church on Earth. What evidence is needed in molestation cases? Zero, none, just lies. How can you prove you did not do something, that someone says you did fifty years ago?
One tenth of one percent of what is said to have gone wrong, maybe did go wrong. The legal system in trying to cover up their sin of over fifty two million Hate crime Murders, otherwise known as abortion. The Catholic Church is against abortion, therefor they find fault with them.
Martha McEldowney
1 year, 4 months agoDear Leonard, Have you not read the reasoned and thoughtful comments above yours? You have my reasoned and deep pity. Brainwashed is brainwashed. You are one of the sheeple and I’ll bet you are still funding the Defense Fund of the “church” with your contributions. There is no end to this coverup as long as the men who are in charge of this evil empire will not admit that evil deeds are commited from the top down to the lowest nun — yes, they are perpetrators of child abuse and sexual molestation of the vulnerable, too — and who are determined to keep this sinful enterprise going full tilt to the Hell in which they have condemned their victims. They have no shame, only greed. They parade around in dresses and little white collars and demand a tenth of hard-working people’s money so they can live in luxury. They are not homeless, They are not hungry. They are not lacking in free medical help. And tehy have the gall to take the mite from widows. The widows are deceived and the men of this business are full of sin. Again, I refer readers to the well-thought-out paragraphs that precede Leonard’s and my response to this outrage.
June Annette
1 year, 4 months agoTom Carter . .
Thanks for your insights.
That being the case, it’s beginning to look even more like a fishing expedition aimed at SNAP.
June Annette
1 year, 4 months agoLeonard, a little perspective . .
The number of children put at risk at being sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests in what can only be described as the “mother of all cover ups” . . for the sake of Roman Catholicism’s image and reputation is impossible to gauge. This former Archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal William Keeler rightly describes as “soul murder”
You would do well to reflect on the conclusions of an expert witness and RC priest:
The conclusions of another EXPERT WITNESS :
“Over two-thirds of the U.S. bishops have knowingly covered sexual abusers and in so doing have directly caused the ruination of the souls and often the bodies of countless more victims. The almighty Vatican, for all its carefully tooled statements of concern has not called a single bishop to accountability. A few have resigned but so what? They have committed crimes with impunity. Why Because they are bishops and in the magical thinking of the papacy, bishops are above hard-ball justice. Some bishops have even been sexual abusers themselves. None have been defrocked. I have seen consistent, hard evidence of a radical disconnect between the mandate of Christ in the Gospel in reference to such matters, and the actual actions of the bishops and the popes. In short, the popes (JP2 and Benedict XVI) and the bishops have not acted as Christians but rather as agnostic, self-serving businessmen.”
Source: Reflections from 25 Years of Experience At the Start of the New Year Thomas Doyle, J.C.D./ January 1, 2010
Phil Cardarella
1 year, 4 months agoJudge Mesle is absolutely right.
Sexual abuse by priests is a very emotional topic. As a product of 15 years of Catholic education, I appreciate that fully. No doubt SNAP believes it provides an important public service and an important service to those who were victims. In some cases, it does.
What SNAP also does is act as a very public advocacy group. And what they consider “calling needed attention to a problem” is what lawyers correctly see as “polluting the jury pool”. If a lawyer encourages such pollution in a civil case, that is a matter of appropriate interest to a court. Moreover, when it appears that this individual lawyer has a number of such cases closely tied to SNAP, that raises serious questions about both an individual case and the possible corruption of the civil law system.
SNAP is NOT a privileged licensed provider of psychological counseling to possible victims — it is essentially a clearinghouse for information on such allegations. Some of which may well be adverse to the claims of a civil plaintiff. For example, statements in SNAP files may well impeach various parts of a “victim’s” statement. It would not be the first time an advocacy group “helped along the memory” of a witness: Too often, “I had a terrible dream” becomes “I remember terrible things.”
And, what if Mr. X has contacted SNAP to say he was there and it did not happen — but he doesn’t want to take the heat of coming forward against a friend? Do we seriously think SNAP advised him to contact the lawyers for the Defendants?
And, let us be clear: This is about MONEY! And, when you are suing for money, there are very broad rules of discovery that apply.
The First Amendment issue is disingenuous. This is NOT like subpoenaing The Star’s files. If the Chamber of Commerce was holding press conferences about a lawsuit agains Hallmark — based on what Hallmark was telling it — no one would think that documents Hallmark provided the Chamber would be privileged.
JR Beillenhouser
1 year, 4 months agoLeonard’s comment is not spam or toxic. Why is it marked that way?
Mark Robertson
1 year, 4 months agoCould those emails show collusion between the Star and SNAP to attempt to bring down Bishop Finn and bring great damage to the true Catholic Church? And as previously asked, what does this ruling have to do with news gathering?
Recent emails confirmed what a hoax the whole global warming scam is. SNAP emails would likely show what that bunch is really all about, and how the Star supports them. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Ken Whisler
Parkville
1 year, 4 months agoActually, David, SNAP and the Star IS involved in this litigation, by way of using the media to shape public opinion concerning the guilt of the accused BEFORE the accused has had his day in court. That effectively kills the rights of the accused to a vigorous defense. That is a valid form of deceptive propaganda.