Lawyer on Trial for Revealing Confidential Delbarton Sex Abuse Settlement

By Peggy Wright
Morristown Daily Record
December 6, 2018

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2018/12/06/lawyer-trial-revealing-delbarton-sex-abuse-settlement/2207298002/

A civil trial that stems from a six-year-old lawsuit brought by Delbarton School against an attorney involving a confidential 1988 sex abuse settlement began Wednesday in Morris County.

The jury heard testimony from Gregory Gianforcaro, the attorney who represented a former student, who in 1984 claimed he had been abused by Rev. Timothy Brennan.

Gianforcaro is being sued by The Order of St. Benedict, which runs the school, for allegedly disclosing in 2012 the confidential settlement sum reached with the student in 1988.

While trying to get a gag order lifted in the case in 2012, Gianforcaro said, at a news conference, the settlement between former student William Wolfe and the school had been about seven figures. The Order alleges the attorney at that time violated the confidentiality agreement.

The suit also alleges Gianforcaro committed a breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. Delbarton attorneys Christopher Kinum and Robert Gold want the jury of six men and two women to award damages that equal Wolfe's 30-year-old settlement, which has never been precisely disclosed.

During the trial the jury won't hear any reference to the alleged sex abuse, as ordered by Superior Court Judge Maryann Nergaard.

Nergaard ordered the trial to be devoid of any testimony about sexual misconduct, even though at least three former students who reached settlements with the Order of St. Benedict, which runs Delbarton School, are expected to testify.

In his trial opening, Kinum charged Gianforcaro "acted in bad faith" by calling a press conference in 2012 at which he announced he was filing a lawsuit to get Wolfe released from the confidentiality requirements and alluded to the settlement amount.

Gianforcaro also violated a settlement provision that the Order of St. Benedict be given 20 days' notice if relief from the deal was being sought, Kinum said.

Attorney Christopher Kinum, representing the Order of St. Benedict which runs the Delbarton School, in Superior Court, Morristown. (Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

"He got a ton of publicity," Kinum said of Gianforcaro. "He wanted that benefit and he got that benefit."

Sticking to the ruling that sanitizes the background of the case, Kinum never told jurors the settlement was due to alleged sexual abuse in the 1980s by Brennan. Gianforcaro's lawyer Christopher Carey in his opening said "an incident" at Delbarton had led to the settlement. The judge's ban on references to sexual abuse is to avoid prejudicing the jury against Delbarton.

Carey argued Gianforcaro was not the lawyer who negotiated the settlement and is not bound by its prohibitions.

"His name is not on this agreement. He's not a party to it," Carey said.

When called as first witness by Delbarton Attorney Bob Gold, Gianforcaro said Wolfe approached him in 2012 with an offer "to help." The lawyer cut himself off, adhering to the judge's order that barred him from talking about lawsuits he has handled involving victims of sexual abuse by Delbarton monks.

The jury won't be told but in July, Delbarton officials sent a letter to alumni and the school community that revealed 13 monks from St. Mary's Abbey at Delbarton were accused of sexually abusing 30 people over the past three decades. Gianforcaro has settled five lawsuits on behalf of victims against Delbarton and has six others pending.

Attorney Christopher Carey during opening statements in Morris County Court. Carey represents attorney Greg Gianforcaro after he was sued by the Order of St. Benedict for violating a 1988 confidentiality agreement that barred public disclosure of a settlement. December 5, 2018, Morristown, NJ (Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

Gianforcaro told jurors he ultimately filed a lawsuit in 2012 to relieve Wolfe of the confidentiality clause. He conceded he mentioned Wolfe's "seven-figure settlement" at the 2012 press conference, but said he received the information from two individuals familiar with the deal, and the amount was redacted from settlement documents he reviewed.

Gianforcaro defended his decision by saying he didn't negotiate the deal, wasn't Wolfe's lawyer in 1988, and doesn't believe the confidentiality clause applies to him. Gold sharply objected when Gianforcaro also said the confidentiality provision was "completely against public policy."

"Public policy, now we're going to get into that whole argument," Gold said.

Gianforcaro was not permitted to elaborate on his public policy reference, and the judge halted the trial for the day. The trial will resume Monday at 9 a.m.

Wolfe, who is expected to testify, in 2014 reached a settlement with Delbarton that allows him to talk about the abuse he suffered as a 14-year-old student. He is still barred from revealing the settlement agreement.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: pwright@GannettNJ.com