Clergy sex abuse class action lawsuit against Pittsburgh diocese seeks to add Greensburg, others

By Deb Erdley
Tribune-Review
February 10, 2020

https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/clergy-sex-abuse-class-action-lawsuit-against-pittsburgh-diocese-seeks-to-add-greensburg-others/

Lawyers in a class action suit trying to force the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to open its clergy abuse archives expanded their campaign to include the Greensburg, Harrisburg and Altoona-Johnstown dioceses as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The move comes one month after Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Christine Ward ruled the lawsuit could move forward with regard to the Pittsburgh diocese.

The suit was filed in September 2018 by a pair of Pittsburgh diocese families with children in the church’s parochial schools. It seeks the disclosure of records, rather than monetary awards.

The families who filed the complaint contend that records that were made public in a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report contained gaping holes that suggest the church failed to meet mandatory reporting laws and poses a public nuisance.

Now, they want the court to include the other dioceses and archdiocese in an amended complaint that includes families and abuse survivors of those church bodies.

Ward has yet to issue a ruling on the amended complaint.

A spokeswoman for the Harrisburg diocese said its lawyers are reviewing the complaint.

“The Diocese of Harrisburg would note that we provided hundreds of thousands of documents to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office as part of the Grand Jury investigation into clergy-child sexual abuse. Those documents were summarized and made available as part of a comprehensive report issued by the Commonwealth,” Rachel A. Bryson said.

Diocesan spokesmen in Greensburg, Altoona-Johnstown and Philadelphia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The claimants from the Greensburg diocese include unnamed abuse survivors from Uniontown and Torrance.

Lawyer Timothy Hale, who is representing the families seeking records, said he plans to ask Ward for permission to add additional survivors and families from the Erie, Scranton and Allentown dioceses.

Hale previously filed suits in California in cases that forced the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America to release files that named hundreds of alleged child predators.