PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review
July 9, 2018
By Patrick Varine
A Philadelphia law firm representing a man who testified he was abused in the 1980s by a Harrisburg priest has joined in the push to unseal a statewide grand jury report into sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
Kline & Specter joined the Pennsylvania attorney general and members of the news media in the legal battle to make the report public.
The firm represents Todd Frey, who testified before the grand jury and believes he and others have a right to see the more than 800-page report completed by the grand jury. The report is expected to detail clergy sexual abuse in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses, including those based in Greensburg and Pittsburgh.
“Mr. Frey is one of many victims whose voice must be heard in opposition to those who seek to keep this grand jury report secret. We hope that the court will act quickly to release the entire report,” said firm co-founder Tom Kline, who represents Frey along with partners David Inscho and Charles Becker.
Kline and Inscho only a few weeks ago obtained the largest-ever settlement against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the family of Sean McIlmail in a case involving his alleged prolonged sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Northeast Philadelphia. The lawsuit claimed that McIlmail was abused between the ages of 11 and 14 and that the archdiocese knew about more than a decade of allegations against his alleged attacker, Rev. Robert Brennan, who was twice removed from prior parishes. McIlmail died of a drug overdose at the age of 26.
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