## Facts

- Parents (C.R. and S.R.) alleged that E., a Catholic priest, sexually molested their minor daughter.
- The parties agreed to resolve the dispute through the Christian Conciliation Service of Central Florida, Inc. (CCS), whose rules required confidentiality.
- Mediation through CCS failed, and the parties proceeded to binding arbitration under CCS rules.
- The arbitration panel found the priest had inappropriately touched the child on multiple occasions and found the Church negligent in retaining and supervising him.
- The panel held the priest and Church jointly and severally liable and awarded $250,000, which the diocese paid.
- About 20 months after the award, the parents asserted confidentiality was no longer binding and threatened to disclose information about the dispute and the CCS findings to third parties, including the media and members of the priest’s new parish.

## Issues

1. Whether a court may enforce a confidentiality obligation arising from a private ADR process by enjoining parties from disclosing the facts and findings of the mediation/arbitration to third parties.
2. Whether injunctive enforcement of ADR confidentiality is permissible when the restrained speech concerns alleged child molestation and related misconduct.
3. Whether the parties’ agreement to CCS procedures supplied a sufficient contractual basis for equitable relief, including a temporary injunction.

## Decision

- The trial court issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the parents from discussing with the media or other third parties the facts underlying the dispute and the CCS arbitration findings.
- The trial court denied the parents’ motion to dissolve the temporary injunction.
- The District Court of Appeal affirmed the temporary injunction and affirmed the denial of the motion to dissolve.

## Legal Principles

- Parties who voluntarily submit a dispute to an ADR forum with confidentiality rules may be contractually bound to keep the proceedings and outcome confidential.
- Courts may enforce contractual ADR confidentiality through equitable relief when disclosure would cause harm not adequately remedied by damages.
- A temporary injunction may be used to preserve bargained-for confidentiality pending further proceedings when threatened disclosure would defeat the purpose of the confidentiality commitment.

## Conclusion

The appellate court upheld injunctive enforcement of the parties’ ADR confidentiality obligations, affirming a temporary injunction that barred the parents from disclosing to third parties the facts and findings arising from the religious conciliation arbitration.


C.R. & S.R. v. E., 573 So. 2d 1088 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)