A Catholic priest and his order cannot invoke the “priest-penitent” privilege or the First Amendment to shield discovery of certain files in a suit stemming from the forcible touching of a 12-year-old girl, a judge has ruled.
In a lawsuit stemming from the Reverend Augusto Cortez’s groping of “Krystal G.” at St. John the Baptist School in Brooklyn, attorneys for the girl sought personnel files for the priest and his supervisor. The priest’s attorney produced a privilege log identifying both a “report” and a “plan” that have “inter-priest communications related to Father Cortez’s priestly duties and vocation.”
