FRANKFORT - A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge Wednesday ordered all the records in a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Covington diocese and the Lexington diocese to remain sealed until a three-judge panel of the court can rule.

        The order by appeals Judge Julia Tackett amounted to a pre-emptive ruling of Fayette County Circuit Judge Mary Noble, who was hearing the case. Judge Noble had indicated she would rule Wednesday whether the records should be made public, but Judge Tackett's order rendered that moot.

        Judge Tackett also ordered parties in the case to have their cases in the hands of the appeals court by Aug. 2 in anticipation of an Aug. 5 hearing.

        Lexington lawyer Robert Treadway filed a class-action lawsuit against the dioceses in May on behalf of five unnamed plaintiffs — four males and a female — who say that as minors they were sexually abused by priests in the Lexington and Covington dioceses.

        The Lexington diocese asked the circuit court to keep all records in the lawsuit sealed and hidden from public view.

        All Roman Catholic churches in the Lexington Diocese were part of the Diocese of Covington until 1988, when the new diocese was formed, with the Rev. Kendrick J. Williams, then auxiliary bishop of the Covington diocese, as the new Lexington diocese's first bishop.

        Father Williams, who has been named in sexual abuse lawsuits, maintained his innocence. But he resigned the bishop's post just before the Roman Catholic bishops met in Dallas to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that is rocking the church nationwide.

        The Lexington Herald-Leader asked Judge Noble to unseal the records. The newspaper is challenging a state law that says court records will be sealed in a civil case that is filed five years or more after alleged sexual abuse occurred.

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