A federal judge used the findings of a US justice department investigation to justify expelling clergy molestation survivors from a committee trying to negotiate settlements with the bankrupt New Orleans Catholic archdiocese after their lawyer tipped off a high school that its chaplain was an admitted child molester.
But now, for the first time, having obtained a long-sealed report on the matter, the Guardian and reporting partner WWL Louisiana can reveal that the judge, Meredith Grabill, made that decision even after the justice department’s bankruptcy trustee specifically said the lawyer’s clients should not be punished – though the trustee believed the attorney had violated a confidentiality order in trying to protect children from an abuser.
