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Personnel Files Of 25 Priests Turned Over In Molestation Case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has ordered the Los Angeles Roman Catholic archdiocese to turn over personnel files of 25 priests to a plaintiff's attorney in a molestation case dating to the 1980s.

However, Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias gave archdiocese lawyers until June 8 to gather the material, create an inventory and identify documents they believe are exempted by rights to privacy and irrelevance. Some of the priests are deceased and the judge said they would have no privacy privilege.

The files were sought on behalf of a man allegedly abused by a priest visiting from Mexico in the late 1980s. But plaintiff's attorney Anthony DeMarco is seeking the files as part of a larger effort to show that the archdiocese hierarchy knew about molestations and helped priests escape scrutiny by leaving the country.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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