Partner Mallory Allen secured a unanimous appellate victory in McNierney v. Archdiocese of New York, affirming a trial court order requiring production of the Archdiocese of New York’s secret files, including its investigations into perpetrator priests and “sexual deviancy” treatment records. Up until this decision, the Archdiocese had aggressively fought to keep these files hidden.
“This is a significant step toward transparency,” Mallory said. “The McNierney opinion will impact thousands of pending cases filed under New York’s Child Victims Act and will require production of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of documents which have never before been produced.”
This is the second appellate victory for Mallory, who secured another unanimous opinion in 2021 against the Diocese of Albany. In that case, Harmon v. Diocese of Albany, the court upheld a trial court’s decision on a motion to compel the Diocese of Albany to produce all personnel and “secret” files of every priest who has been “credibly accused” (as admitted by the Diocese) of sexually abusing a child, the “sexual deviancy” treatment records of the priests, and the records from the Diocese’s IMAP (informal settlement program), which show the full scope of allegations within the Diocese.
Read the full opinion in McNierney v. Archdiocese of New York here.