Seton Hall University must disclose an outside report and other documents related to allegations of sexual abuses by clergy, a judge ruled Wednesday. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)
Seton Hall University must disclose a litany of documents to attorneys suing the Archdiocese of Newark over its handling of sexual abuse claims, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Avion Benjamin’s order will force the university to disclose more than 20,000 pages of documents to opposing counsel, including documents from a 2019 outside probe into abuse allegations at the school’s seminary and whether Monsignor Joseph R. Reilly, the university’s president and a former seminary dean, properly reported them.
“These documents are going to reveal additional examples of systemic behavior within both the archdiocese and Seton Hall where these institutions failed to discipline priests accused of sexual abuse and ratified a culture that turned a blind eye to perpetrators who preyed on these vulnerable children,” said John Baldante, one of the plaintiffs’ lead attorneys.
Benjamin’s order, delivered verbally over about an hour Wednesday, would see the outside report released with some conclusions redacted and directs the university to hand over a trove of emails between it and the law firm that conducted the investigation.
Some emails that included the university, its lawyers, and the investigators could be redacted or withheld based on attorney-client privilege based on the judge’s order, said Baldante, whose firm represents about a third of plaintiffs in the consolidated case.
The judge’s order requires Seton Hall to produce the documents within 30 days, though the disclosures could be paused if the school or the archdiocese appeals the ruling.
Spokespeople for the university and church did not immediately return requests for comment. Baldante said Seton Hall has already indicated it would appeal.
Attorneys for the university had argued the report and related documents were shielded by attorney-client privilege, arguing they were drafted to help prepare the school for litigation. But the judge found the report included a disclaimer that said Seton Hall was not a client of the law firm that drafted it.
In 2020, a judge overseeing the case ordered the archdiocese to disclose a slew of documents in response to claims by roughly 400 plaintiffs who alleged they were sexually abused by Newark’s Catholic clergy.
But the Seton Hall report was never handed over. Attorneys for plaintiffs have said they did not become aware of the investigation until a February report in Politico New Jersey revealed its existence.
Seton Hall attorneys charged that the 2020 order did not apply to the university, which was named in six of the cases. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued the Catholic university was part of the archdiocese and required to comply.
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