LITTLE ROCK — A Pulaski County circuit judge agreed Friday to restrict access to the personnel file of a priest whose personal relationship with a parishioner is the basis for a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and its bishop.
But Judge Wendell Griffen refused to impose the restrictions as they were requested by the diocese, saying the prohibitions appeared too wide ranging and could result in the public being denied access to the ongoing case. Judges have a duty to “respect the public’s right of access” to the courts while protecting litigants’ rights to protect sensitive information from being released, Griffen said.
“The court is trying to strike a balance,” the judge said at the conclusion of Friday’s 40-minute hearing. “The court is concerned about avoiding a public lawsuit from becoming private by an overly broad protective order.”
Griffen’s protective order bars the parties from making the file public and allows only the lawyers in the case to see the file. The diocese’s request would have amounted to a seal on the case file before trial, the judge said.
The woman, 41-year-old Shannon Oates of Fayetteville, sued in April, complaining that church authorities failed to protect her from the Rev.Charles Kanu, whom she said sexually abused and exploited her. She claims a romantic relationship grew out of Kanu’s counseling her and instructing her in the faith when she converted as a member of St. Peter the Fisherman parish in Mountain Home between spring 2009 and October 2010.
Kanu used personal information she divulged to him in their counseling, instruction and confessional sessions to manipulate her into a sexual relationship, according to the lawsuit. Church officials, including Bishop Anthony Taylor, knew Kanu, who is not a party to the suit, was a “sexual predator” who used his position to exploit women, but these officials didn’t do anything to protect Oates, the filing states.
Friday’s hearing came at the request of the diocese’s attorneys to impose limits on who could see Kanu’s personnel records, as both sides exchange evidence in the pretrial process known as discovery. Only the plaintiff’s attorneys should be allowed to see the records, diocese attorney Gail Ponder Gaines said, although she claimed most of them were “fairly innocuous.”
The diocese has an interest in protecting the privacy of its employees, who submit sensitive information to the church as part of their employment with the expectation it will not be publicly revealed, Ponder Gaines told Griffen.
“It’s not our right to publicly produce that private file,” she said. “The diocese is entrusted to maintain the confidentiality of employees.”
The diocese is trying to protect a man who has intentionally committed wrongdoing, Oates’ attorney, Raymond Niblock, told the judge, questioning how the church could claim a privacy right that Kanu has not asked for. He said the privacy claim also conflicts with calls by the pope, the Roman Catholic Church’s leader, for more transparency.
The restrictions also will prevent the attorneys from consulting with other lawyers as they look to see if more women can file similar complaints against Kanu or the diocese, Niblock said.
“It hamstrings us in future litigation,” Niblock said.
He argued that the lawyers’ intent, rooting out “spiritual abuse” in the church and “getting bad guys and protecting victims,” outweighs any privacy concerns raised by the diocese or Kanu.
Ponder Gaines urged the judge to reject that argument.
“This case should not be a launching pad so they can look for other cases,” she said.
Oates filed suit anonymously, claiming public disclosure would subject her to public humiliation and threats, but her attorneys revealed her identity in July court filings after the diocese challenged the legitimacy of the lawsuit and argued that she had no grounds to keep her identity hidden.
Kanu was removed from his post in January in the unincorporated Pulaski County community of Marche. Taylor has refused to elaborate on the action beyond what he told worshippers at the time, that “credible allegations of professional misconduct” had been raised against the Nigerian native, who had served in Arkansas churches in Helena-West Helena, Marianna, Mountain Home, Tontitown and Huntsville since 2005.
“While a preliminary investigation of the allegation of professional misconduct was inconclusive, Father Kanu’s own admission of his failure to comply with certain conditions that were placed on his continuing in ministry in Arkansas led to the actions taken against him by Bishop Taylor in conformity to diocesan policy,” Taylor said in a statement released in January.
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 10/30/2011