Richard Trahant Appeals $460,000 Sanction to US Supreme Court Over Due Process Claim
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 23
Richard Trahant Appeals $460,000 Sanction to US Supreme Court Over Due Process Claim
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 23
Summary
$460,000 — including accrued interest — is the penalty New Orleans clergy-abuse lawyer Richard Trahant is asking the US Supreme Court to review after lower courts left a 2022 sanction intact.
Trahant argues Judge Meredith Grabill punished him without notice or a hearing after he warned Brother Martin High School about priest Paul Hart, whom he says remained a risk to students.
Newly obtained sealed records show Hart had admitted sexual contact with a 17-year-old, faced a rape accusation he denied, and was the subject of another harassment rumor before his 2017 school assignment.
Deposition testimony also conflicts over who disclosed confidential details: Trahant says Archbishop Gregory Aymond and aides told school officials specifics that led to Hart's 2022 removal.
The appeal lands as New Orleans' archdiocese implements a $305 million bankruptcy settlement with about 600 abuse survivors, roughly 80 of them Trahant clients.