LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC News
October 17, 2018
Abbeville attorney Anthony Fontana, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a St. Landry family in an alleged priest sex abuse case, is seeking a list of priests who have credible complaints against them.
Fontana is representing a person alleged to be a victim of priest Michael Guidry, who was arrested earlier this year by St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s deputies on sex abuse charges. Read more of our stories about him here and here.
Fontana filed Interrogatories and Requests for Production to Guidry and the Diocese of Lafayette in the lawsuit. Interrogatories are questions that parties in a lawsuit ask each other; Requests for Production are requests for documents. Answering them is not optional – there are deadlines and requirements that parties have to follow. If the questions aren’t answered, the court gets involved to order compliance.
In his discovery, Fontana asks Guidry and the Diocese to name all priests who have credible complaints against them since 2002, as well as all church employees who have credible complaints against them.
Fontana, who handled several lawsuits against the diocese back in the 1980s when the allegations of sexual abuse by priests first came to light, did not explain why he limited his requests to the time since 2002. However, that year is significant because it is the year that America’s bishops adopted what they called a “zero tolerance” policy toward child molestation and accused priests.
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