Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman has ordered the California Franciscans order to release hundreds of pages of private personnel files and other documents as part of a clergy abuse settlement. The order comes nearly three years after the Franciscans reached a $28 million settlement with 25 victims of sexual abuse, Associated Press reports.
Lichtman ruled that the documents must be released within 21 days, but if the order and the individual brothers named in the records appeal, the ruling could be put on hold.
An attorney for the plaintiffs said the previously undisclosed documents could reveal how long the Franciscans knew about alleged abusers and how they dealt with them.
"We're going to see things that have never been seen and there's going to be pretty damaging and dramatic information in there," lawyer for alleged victims, Tim Hale predicted.
Brian Brosnahan, an attorney for the Franciscan Friars of California Inc., said in a statement that Lichtman's decision to open the medical records to the public was counter-productive.
"The psychotherapist-patient privilege exists so that the patient will make full disclosure to the therapist without fear that the communications will become public information," the statement said.
"This would make it much less likely that the patient will be open and truthful with the therapist, which would make it much harder to effectively supervise and treat alleged offenders."
He said the Franciscans were considering an appeal.
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