Calif. Judge Sides with Media--Orders Church Leaders in Sex Scandal Be Named

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Ruling that the public interest in shielding children from sexual abuse trumps individuals' privacy rights, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias sided with the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press and ordered the names of the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles ("ALA") cited in internal investigatory records of child molestation allegations not be redacted, the Times reported.

Judge Elias's ruling reverses a decision by private mediator and retired federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who favored blacking out the names of archdiocese staffers from the 30,000 pages of records of the ALA probe of sexual allegations that are scheduled for public release to spare the ALA further embarrassment. Judge Tevrizian had also ordered redacting the names of priests accused of a single allegation of sexual abuse of minors, which Judge Elias also overturned.

The decision to identify church leaders and purported pedophile priests in the records, some of  which contain decades-old charges of sexual molestation, evoked a predictable negative response from church lawyers, but also drew criticism from the California Psychiatric Association, according to the Times article, which addressed privacy concerns and possible harm to confidential doctor-patient relationships. Church lawyers, who already had redacted the documents in compliance with Judge Tevrizian's decision, warned that having to restore the names of church officials could delay release of the documents by months.

The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times  petitioned the court for release of the names under the California Public Records Act [Calif. Govt. Code secs. 6250-6276.48], contending that the public needed to know the names of ALA leaders to help it grasp the scope of the massive child sex abuse scandal, that the Times reported involved accusations against 200 priests and prompted payments from insurers and others of more than $720 million to settle lawsuits.

The ALA is the largest archdiocese in the U.S.  Pursuant to a 2007 settlement agreement hammered out by the ALA and 500 victims, the ALA records, said to include psychiatric files, Vatican correspondence, complaints from victims' parents and investigative reports, are to be made public.

Judge Elias supported her decision by noting that parishioners were entitled to know the goings-on in their church.

Calif. Shields Workers' Social Media Passwords

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Gov. Jerry Brown took to Facebook to post that he has signed two bills that will protect employees and students from having to divulge social media passwords to employers or the universities they attend, Cnet.com reports.

AB 1844, sponsored by Nora Campos, does not allow employers to demand social media account user name and password information from personnel or job applicants. Assemblywoman Campos claims more than 100 such cases are pending before the National Labor Relations Board.

Gov. Brown also signed SB 1349, a measure that prohibits colleges and universities from seeking the same information from students and prospective students. Solons in Washington, D.C. are weighing the merits of the Password Protection Act of 2012 whose aims are similar to AB 1844, according to the Cnet.com article.

Appeals Court Finds Constitutionally Protected Privacy Right Over Autopsy Pix

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a mother's privacy right of control over autopsy photos of her two-year-old son is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

In Marsh v. County of San Diego et al. (Case No. 11-55395), 2012 WL 1922193 (9th Cir. 5/29/12), Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's opinion marks the first time a federal court has recognized the U.S. Constitution as conferring a privacy right over death images.

Two-year-old Phillip Buell died of severe head trauma in 1983 while being cared for by Kenneth Marsh, then-boyfriend of the toddler's mother. Marsh served nearly 20 years on a second-degree murder conviction, but subsequently was released when it could not be shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the youth was a victim of child abuse.

Jay S. Coulter, a former deputy district attorney in San Diego whose office prosecuted Kenneth Marsh, took autopsy photos of the toddler as a memento of his years in public service. Ultimately, he distributed one of the photos to the news media along with a memo he wrote entitled "What Really Happened to Phillip Buell?"

The child's mother, Brenda Marsh (who had since married Kenneth Marsh), sued San Diego County and Coulter under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, alleging her 14th Amendment Substantive Due Process Rights were violated by the former government official's copying and dissemination of the toddler's autopsy photos.

The appellate court found a constitutionally protected right of privacy for the plaintiff, but said the defendant was not liable because of qualified immunity, a doctrine that balances citizens' constitutional rights and the interest in public officials effectively being able to perform their duties.

Additionally, the court found that the defendants violated the plaintiff's procedural due process rights by their actions, which ran afoul of Calif. Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 129, which limits the use of autopsy photos to criminal proceedings absent permission from the court.