A federal bankruptcy judge in New Orleans leveled a $400,000 penalty yesterday against a lawyer for clergy abuse survivors who allegedly revealed protected information about a priest to a Catholic school principal and a news reporter, NOLA.com reported. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill issued the sanctions against attorney Richard Trahant in a 30-page order, claiming he wrongfully disclosed information from discovery materials handed over in December in the Archdiocese of New Orleans' bankruptcy case. The information related to the Rev. Paul Hart, then chaplain at Brother Martin High School. Hart left his post in early January, days after the school was notified of allegations from 1990 that he kissed and fondled a Mount Carmel Academy senior while serving at another local Catholic institution. It wasn’t the embattled archdiocese that first alerted the school, however. Trahant admitted that he called the school principal, who is a cousin, after learning of the allegations involving Hart, who was not identified on the archdiocese's public list of credibly accused priests. Trahant also admitted he alerted a reporter for The Advocate to Hart's identity. Trahant insisted that he didn’t reveal any confidential documents, but admitted he “planted that seed” to expose Hart. He has argued that he didn’t violate the court’s protective order at all. “In no uncertain terms, I did what I did to protect children. I provided no documents. I read no documents to anyone,” Trahant said yesterday, adding that he would appeal the sanctions. Judge Grabill, however, found that his actions violated the protective order and caused harm, including “hurt and trauma revisited upon the survivor of the priest’s alleged abuse.” The judge also cited Trahant for failing to promptly come clean, resulting in a costly investigation by the U.S. Trustee.
