The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from New Orleans attorney Richard Trahant, who was fined $400,000 for actions that led to the removal of an abusive Roman Catholic priest from a high school campus.
The justices issued the decision without comment, effectively upholding the sanctions tied to the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese bankruptcy case filed in 2020.
The fine has grown by about $60,000 due to interest since the initial ruling by federal bankruptcy judge Meredith Grabill.
Trahant discovered during the bankruptcy proceedings that priest Paul Hart had secretly confessed to religious superiors about having sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl in the early 1990s.
Despite an advisory board's recommendation to remove Hart, Archbishop Gregory Aymond allowed him to continue ministry and later assigned him as a chaplain to Brother Martin High School in 2017.
Upon learning of the past misconduct in late 2021, Trahant notified the school principal, who was his cousin, and emailed a journalist to keep Hart on his radar.
Hart retired in January 2022 after the school requested his removal, and a subsequent newspaper article prompted Judge Grabill to investigate protective order violations.
The investigation concluded that Trahant violated the order, resulting in the fine and the expulsion of four of his clients from a committee of clergy abuse survivors negotiating a settlement.
Lower federal courts refused to overturn the punishment, leading Trahant to file a petition to the Supreme Court in May.
Trahant issued a statement challenging the archdiocese to direct his fine money toward survivors rather than church funds.
“This entire saga hurt my clients, my wife, my kids and my co-counsel,” said Trahant, who maintains his actions were intended to protect children.
“I maintain I did what I did to protect children.”
Expelled committee member and Trahant client James Adams expressed deep disappointment with the high court's decision.
“The affirmed the protection of sexual predators over the safety of children,” said Adams.
He noted that the ruling sends a chilling message to anyone attempting to expose internal church misconduct.
“The courts have clearly stated [that] if you try to expose sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic church, you will be punished.”
Another client removed from the committee, Jackie Berthelot, criticized the severity of the financial penalty.
“It seems that if you speak up against predators who roam our schools, … you would be punished severely.”
Berthelot expressed dismay that a long-time advocate for victims faced such harsh legal repercussions.
“It’s a shame that somebody who spoke up against abusers and always has supported victims’ rights would be penalized in such a harsh manner as Richard has.”
Hart died at age 70 roughly nine months after leaving the high school, while Archbishop Aymond retired in February after the archdiocese agreed to a $305 million settlement with hundreds of survivors.
A recent bankruptcy filing has delayed initial payments to those survivors from April until potentially the fall.
