Morris Judge closes parts of civil trial in Delbarton sex abuse case

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Ben Horowitz/The Star-Ledger
on June 02, 2014

MORRISTOWN — A Superior Court judge today ordered his courtroom closed to the press and public during opening statements in a civil trial brought by a man known as “John Doe” who wants to be released from a confidentiality agreement he signed after settling a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Delbarton School in Morris Township in 1988.

Delbarton had sought to close the trial to the public, but Judge Stephan Hansbury in Morristown denied the motion.

Hansbury ruled that some portions of the trial would be open, and others closed, including the opening statements, the victim’s testimony and various testimony and proceedings, “as appropriate.”

Hansbury, in Morristown, said “some issues are protected by prior agreement,” resulting in the closing of the courtroom at certain points.

But both sides appeared to outline their general strategies for the trial in an open hearing that preceded the opening statements.

An attorney for Delbarton said allowing the victim to get out of the confidentiality agreement would open the gates to a new “do-over law” in New Jersey that could let anyone renege on a contract after suffering “buyer’s remorse.”

The attorney for the victim, who was sexually abused by a priest while in his teens, said it is “extremely important” that the man, now in his 40s, be allowed the “emotional end” of speaking out publicly about what happened to him, calling the confidentiality agreement a “restrictive covenant.”

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