ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call
October 10, 2018
By Peter Hall
The Allentown Diocese has asked a Lehigh County Court to throw out a lawsuit by a woman — described as a victim in Pennsylvania’s grand jury report on sexual abuse by clergy — who claimed the diocese engaged in a defamatory smear campaign after she reported being abused by a priest.
Juliann Bortz sued the diocese last month after the grand jury report revealed that diocesan officials, including Bishop Alfred Schlert, engaged in an effort to gather “irrelevant, unrelated [or] false ‘dirt,’” on Bortz to discredit her reports of abuse by the Rev. Francis Fromholzer in the 1960s.
The suit alleges defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress by the diocese. Bortz is seeking an apology and a waiver of attorney-client privilege by the diocese to allow its former attorney to testify about who directed the effort to discredit her. She will pursue monetary damages only if the church refuses her request, attorney Benjamin Andreozzi said last month.
The diocese filed papers Wednesday asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, raising objections about the legal sufficiency of Bortz’s claims.
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