NEW ORLEANS — An Orleans Parish judge on Friday blocked children with disabilities from reviewing Catholic school records they’re seeking as a part of their discrimination case against the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Two children with disabilities sued the church in 2022, arguing that at least nine church-run schools asked prohibited, discriminatory questions on applications about prospective students’ physical and learning disabilities.
Judge Ellen Hazeur issued a preliminary ruling ordering those questions removed from the applications while the case is litigated.
But the Archdiocese argued the discrimination case should stop during the church’s bankruptcy, which began in May 2020 to address hundreds of child sexual abuse claims. US Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill agreed, but two federal district judges overturned her.
In October 2023, US District Judge Barry Ashe said the case in state court in front of Judge Hazeur could move forward.
But the case has hardly moved forward since then. That’s because the Archdiocese is appealing Ashe’s ruling at the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The two sides argued the case at the Fifth Circuit nearly four months ago, but the appellate panel hasn’t issued a ruling.
There are also three other appeals pending in state court.
Michael DeShazo, arguing for the Archdiocese, said those appeals should be decided soon and it’s better to have them resolved before moving forward with discovery in the discrimination case. The attorney for the minor children, Christopher Edmunds, said it’s another delay tactic by the Archdiocese.
“They don't want us actually looking behind the curtain and seeing why they were asking kids what medications they take, why they were asking kids whether they have any learning disabilities or to upload their educational evaluations,” he said. “They will stop at nothing to prevent that information from seeing the light of day.”
In court filings, the church accused Edmunds of trying to “weaponize the discovery process” and engaging in personal attacks by constantly referring to the Archdiocese as the “Archbishop” in his filings.
But Hazeur granted the church a protective order Friday based on something else. From the bench, she told Edmunds that he couldn’t seek discovery of records relating to the school applications until he gets the case certified as a class action.
He filed the case as a class-action two years ago but agreed to delay the certification process until this November. On Friday, Edmunds told Hazeur he hadn’t decided yet whether he would pursue class certification or not. He said the process of figuring out how many people were affected by the questions on disabilities is a long and difficult one. But Hazeur told him he had already “picked a lane” by filing the case as a class action and couldn’t move forward as if it were a different kind of case.
After the ruling, Edmunds said the judge had it backwards and he would appeal.
“It's a bit like saying no, you're going to need to ... decide what hotel you're staying at before you even know where you're traveling next year,” he said.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.