celebratingMARCH 20, 2016 I VOL.25 30, yearsNO. 3 I NCLAWYERSWEEKLY.COM of legal I journalism$8.00 PER COPY ‘Spotlight’ panel highlights the power of trial lawyers

■■ JEFF JEFFREY proach to lawsuits filed by the hundreds of Keeping quiet [email protected] people who were abused by priests, not just Pfeiffer said the Globe’s reporting effort was For just the second time in his life, Jim in but around the world. often complicated by confidentiality agree- Scanlan stood in front of a crowded room “They’re still fighting just as hard,” Gar- ments signed by victims of sexual abuse. The and described what it was like to be abused abedian said. “And they still haven’t made paid out millions of dollars by a Boston priest when he was a teenager. any real changes to help the victims. What to hundreds of victims over the years. But Scanlan told his story during a March 16 have they done? Because I just don’t see it.” getting victims to talk was difficult because panel discussion hosted by the North Carolina Pfeiffer noted that earlier this month the they had signed confidentiality agreements. Advocates for Justice at Byron’s South End in last survivor serving on an advisory com- Pfeiffer said confidentiality agreements are Charlotte. The event brought together Scan- mission created by Pope Francis to look at a necessary legal tool. But she said they can lan; Mitch Garabedian, the attorney who for ways to respond to the sexual abuse scan- be “counterproductive” from the standpoint decades has led the effort to represent victims dal resigned in protest of what she said was of giving victims of sexual abuse the ability to of sexual abuse at the hands of priests in law- a lack of progress made by the commission. speak out against an institution as powerful suits against the Catholic Church; and Sacha That prompted Garabedian to jump in, as the Catholic Church. Pfeiffer, a Boston Globe reporter who was part saying, “You don’t need a commission to Pfeiffer said some of the Globe’s sources in- of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that broke publish the names of pedophile priests and cluded attorneys who had their clients sign the story of the church’s cover up of the sexual to make documents public.” confidentiality agreements, only to realize abuse scandal in Boston. later that those agreements had allowed pe- All three members of the panel were Clever tactics dophile priests to continue abusing children. portrayed in the Oscar-winning film “Spot- Garabedian said that the litigation against “Some of the same people who were part light,” which told the story of the Globe’s the Catholic Church has raised some interest- of the solution were part of the problem reporting effort that uncovered dozens of ing questions of law that could serve as lessons because they made millions of dollars off priests in Boston who had abused children for future cases against powerful defendants. these settlements but actually hurt the ef- for decades while church officials made lit- He said in the 1990s, when he first be- fort to stop the abuse,” Pfeiffer said. tle effort to stop them. gan representing victims of priest abuse, Pfeiffer said she believes one of the key take- But when the movie came out in 2015, the Catholic Church frequently tried to ar- aways from the reporting of the Catholic sexu- Scanlan had not yet said publicly that he was gue that the First Amendment protected it al abuse scandal is that “you have to question one of the children abused by Rev. James Tal- from having to turn over documents during authority. Because of how powerful the church bot in the 1970s. discovery. “But we were able to argue that was in Boston, no one questioned its authority. Instead, Scanlan testified anonymously the First Amendment doesn’t apply to That’s what led to this tragedy.” in the criminal case against Talbot that re- wrongful conduct,” Garabedian said. sulted in his pleading guilty to charges Even when the church did turn over doc- Future lawyers in 2005. Scanlan was also one of the Globe’s uments to plaintiffs, the court record was The NCAJ hosted the panel discussion to unnamed sources, and “Spotlight” includes often sealed, which made it impossible to raise funds for its recently launched Acade- a seen depicting the moment he told his sto- show the public just how far-reaching the my Fund, which aims to support education- ry to then-Spotlight Team editor Walter V. abuse and cover up was, he said. al programming to help build better trial “Robby” Robinson. Some of the records in question included in- lawyers. The fund will support technolog- “Like it shows in the movie, I hadn’t even ternal church communications which showed ical improvements, speaker honoraria and told my wife that I was a survivor when I told Cardinal Bernard Law, who oversaw the Boston tuition for new and public service lawyers. my story to Robby in 2002. I wanted to re- Archdiocese at the time, had been told about the NCAJ President Bill Powers of Powers main anonymous, and I was anonymous in predatory habits of former priest John Geoghan, McCartan in Charlotte said the organiza- the movie,” Scanlan told the crowd of about yet approved his transfer to another parish. tion decided the discussion of the events 100 lawyers March 16. “But what ‘Spotlight’ To make the records public, Garabedian depicted in “Spotlight” was a good way to did was to make it OK to say that I was a employed a tactic depicted in “Spotlight” highlight the good that trial lawyers can do. survivor of sexual abuse. It helped me realize that allowed the records to become public, Powers said it also helped that one of that there was no shame in telling my story.” despite the court order sealing them. After NCAJ’s executive committee members, Son- Scanlan said he has told his story publicly requesting to depose a priest for a second ya Pfeiffer of Rudolf Widenhouse in Charlotte, just one other time at a similar discussion. time, the church filed an objection. is the sister of the Globe’s Sacha Pfeiffer. Son- But he said he has been regularly speaking “That’s when I had them,” Garabedian ya Pfeiffer moderated the panel, which was with other survivors of sexual abuse since said. “When I filed my motion in response interspersed with clips from the movie. the release of the film. to the objection, I had to provide supporting “The courage all of these guests dis- Garabedian said the movie has also helped evidence of why this guy needed to be inter- played is not unlike what NCAJ members other survivors come forward to tell their sto- viewed again. So I attached all of the records display every day when they are with their ries. Garabedian said he has received calls from to the motion, which had to be public.” clients,” Powers said. “They know that it’s new clients who range in age from those in Pfeifffer said she wished more attorneys about telling a story and telling it right. their late 20s to those in their 70s and 80s, who would do that because it gave the Globe the ev- That’s what we do for a living.” “want to tell their stories before they pass on.” idence it needed to break the story. At the time North Carolina Lawyers Weekly was the But Garabedian said the movie has done Garabedian filed his motion, the Globe was su- media sponsor for the program. little to change the Catholic Church’s ap- ing the church to make the records public. Follow Jeff Jeffrey on Twitter @NCLWJeffrey

Reprinted with permission of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly © 2017