A New Orleans attorney, Richard Trahant, is facing a $400,000 court penalty for warning a school principal and a reporter about a high school chaplain suspected of being a sexual predator. Trahant, who represents victims of clergy abuse, admits to informing the reporter to keep the chaplain “on your radar” and asking the principal about the person’s presence at the school. However, he claims that he did not provide specific information about the accusations against the chaplain and did not violate a federal bankruptcy court’s protective order requiring confidentiality.
Trahant’s lawyer, Paul Sterbcow, asserts that there was no violation of the protective order, emphasizing that Trahant was cautious in his communication by indicating his constraints under the protective order. Sterbcow also points out that Trahant was not the source for a news story about the chaplain that was published on January 18, 2022 when the chaplain had already resigned. He mentions that there were multiple potential violators of the protective order beyond Trahant.
The sanctions against Trahant originate from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2020 due to increasing legal costs related to sexual abuse by priests. The bankruptcy court issued a protective order to keep a significant amount of information undisclosed. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill ruled in June 2022 that Trahant had violated the order and later imposed a $400,000 penalty, estimated to cover around half the investigation costs related to the allegations of the protective order violation.
Following an unsuccessful appeal to U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry, who later recused himself from the case, the bankruptcy proceedings were eventually assigned to U.S. District Judge Barry Ashe. Despite Trahant’s efforts to vacate the sanctions, Ashe denied the motion. During arguments before a three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it was suggested that Trahant should have sought an exemption from the protective order from Grabill if he believed certain information needed to be disclosed. Attorney Mark Mintz, representing the archdiocese, echoed this point.
The panel did not indicate when they would reach a decision, and the outcome may not depend solely on whether Trahant breached the protective order, but also on legal technicalities such as the appealability of Grabill’s initial ruling in June 2023 and whether Trahant was provided with sufficient opportunities to present his case before the sanctions were imposed. The judges on the panel included Priscilla Richman, Andrew Oldham, and Irma Ramirez, who were nominated by former Presidents George W. Bush, Donald Trump, and current President Joe Biden, respectively.
