BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Diocese of Buffalo filed a lawsuit against the New York State Attorney General’s Office Friday in an attempt to prevent the 7 News I-Team and The Buffalo News from obtaining previously unseen clergy sexual abuse records.
Both the I-Team and Buffalo News reporter Jay Tokasz submitted Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the attorney general’s office for documents it acquired through a civil subpoena in 2018.
The diocese requested notice and an opportunity to pursue its position that the records requested were exempted from disclosure.
After receiving notice from the state, the diocese and its lawyers began to craft a plan to fight against the release of the records.
In September, the state denied the diocese’s request.
The diocese subsequently submitted an appeal which was also denied.
In the lawsuit, the diocese argues that 25,000 pages of its records should be kept secret.
These “sensitive commercial documents,” if disclosed, “would cause injury to the diocese,” the lawsuit states.
Financial disclosures, made public through the diocese’s bankruptcy, indicate lawyers from three different firms were involved with, and paid for, devising a defense against the potential release.
The diocese demanded that any record requests through FOIL be denied and that it receive attorney fees.
7 News plans to fight for the release of the documents through its counsel.
The I-Team previously uncovered a failed attempt by the diocese to keep transcripts of sworn testimony by Bishop Richard J. Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz, as well as diocese documents referenced within the transcripts secret.
It spent over $30,000 in the previous failed bid.
On Saturday morning, the diocese released the following statement:
“To be clear, we have not opposed access to documents for those who are entitled to have
them. All documents at issue have been already provided to the Chapter 11 Creditors’
Committee representing victim-survivors, but were produced in a form and pursuant
to agreed-upon protocols that would not only protect the names of the individuals reporting
abuse but also any contextual information that could be used to identify them.
The Diocese adamantly rejects any suggestion that, through this action to protect victim-survivors,
it is attempting to shield those alleged to have committed abuse or is in any way preventing
victim-survivors from having access to information they require in their efforts to seek justice,”
This is a developing story.
