Panel finds probable cause that R.I. Supreme Court justice violated state ethics code

RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

Apr 25, 2017

By Katie Mulvaney
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The state Ethics Commission voted 5-2 Tuesday that there was probable cause to find that Supreme Court Justice Francis X. Flaherty violated the state ethics code by failing to disclose his leadership position in a Catholic nonprofit organization.

Helen L. Hyde, of Brookfield, Connecticut, in September filed a complaint faulting Flaherty for not indicating on his financial disclosure statements from 2010 to 2015 that he served as president of the St. Thomas More Society of Rhode Island. The nonprofit society’s stated mission is to “promote the study by Catholic lawyers of the application of Christian principles to modern problems, especially in so far as they are connected with civil or ecclesiastical law,” according to the complaint.

“The omission is not a neglectful oversight, but rather occurred five successive years in a row,” Hyde wrote, referring to the nondisclosure as “knowing and willful.”

Hyde, a former Rhode Island resident, alleges that Flaherty held that role while presiding over her appeal before the state Supreme Court. She and a man who alleged that a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused them more than four decades ago sought to recover damages from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence. Flaherty wrote the decision denying Hyde and Jeffrey Thomas damages.

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