An attorney for victims of alleged sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests is challenging an Archdiocese of Portland request to appoint a federal judge to decide whether to release church documents on the priests. The archdiocese settled about 175 lawsuits last April for $50 million to end the first bankruptcy in the nation filed by a Catholic diocese.
As part of the settlement, the archdiocese agreed to release documents that victim advocates say will show church leaders knew more about the abuse than they have acknowledged.
But negotiations over the release have broken down, and the case is being sent back to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris next month for a ruling.An agreement to resolve any disputes over the documents would send the case to one of the mediators who helped broker the settlement, retired Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure.
If he cannot get both sides to agree, the dispute would be sent to the other mediator in the case, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, for binding arbitration.
Erin Olson, a Portland lawyer who has been one of the principal attorneys in the case, did not agree to the procedure and is separately seeking the release of 1,760 documents from the files on clergy assigned to the archdiocese.
Olson argues the archdiocese cannot request that Hogan be designated a "special master" to decide whether those documents can be released from a 2005 protective order by Perris.
In her challenge filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland, Olson said the archdiocese request "is a pretext" to "prevent the disclosure of documents it has promised the victims and the public it will disclose."
Olson noted that the bankruptcy settlement involved "tens of thousands" of documents but her separate request for disclosure has been narrowed to "a manageable number of specifically identified documents, culled through careful reviews of the more than 50 personnel files of accused clergy."
Bud Bunce, an archdiocese spokesman, said the church is seeking to apply the same procedure for the release of all documents by asking Hogan to make the decision on Olson's request.
Bill Crane, a spokesman for SNAP, a victim advocacy group, said Olson has spent thousands of hours going through the church documents, "pinpointing the ones with credibility to be released."
Crane said the archdiocese motion to send the documents to Hogan shows that church leaders are trying to avoid any responsibility for failure to discipline or remove abusive priests.
"We need accountability and full disclosure," Crane said.
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