The order continues to face a string of civil claims from survivors and is represented by major law firm Carroll & O\u2019Dea, which has represented Catholic orders such as the Marist and Christian Brothers for decades.<\/p>\n
Now, one survivor has turned their scrutiny on to the conduct of Carroll & O\u2019Dea itself, asking the ACT supreme court to issue subpoenas to individual lawyers to explain an explosive document in which the firm advised the head of the Marist order that a known offender should be kept away from legal processes because he has \u201chigh honesty and integrity levels\u201d and might implicate senior church officials.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The case involves a survivor known as CQ who alleges he was abused by Brother Kostka Chute, or John William Chute, in 1985 and 1986 at Marist College Canberra. Chute is a serial offender who has attracted abuse complaints<\/a> across Marist schools in Randwick, Bondi, Hunters Hill, Lismore, Coogee and Canberra.<\/p>\n CQ is alleging the Marist Brothers knew of abuse complaints against Chute but concealed them, something the order denies.<\/p>\n CQ\u2019s lawyers this week resurfaced a once-confidential letter from Carroll & O\u2019Dea to the then head of the Marist Brothers, Br Jeffrey Crowe, in 2009, penned after the lawyers visited Chute in Canberra\u2019s jail.<\/p>\n The lawyers had gone to see Chute to better understand whether the Marist Brothers would be on the hook for civil claims relating to his abuse or whether it would be indemnified by the Catholic church\u2019s insurance arm, a question that partly depended on whether it had prior knowledge of Chute\u2019s offending.<\/p>\n A lawyer\u2019s letter to the Marist Brothers<\/p>\n The letter from Carroll & O\u2019Dea advised Crowe that Chute was in \u201cgood form\u201d but that he was: \u201cRegrettably quite up front about various discussions with Provincials over the years including Br Charles, Br Quentin, Br Weldon. I think we will have some problems with indemnity in due course but not immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cTrouble is fundamentally he has high honesty and integrity levels and all of my \u2018suggestions\u2019 about not dumping on others excessively go out the window pretty quickly once there is a conversation under way.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawyers advised the Marists that Chute \u2013 at that stage in jail for abusing six children \u2013 was not a \u201cclassic predator\u201d and was a \u201cgood man with a fair bit of self-discernment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would need to keep him well away from the legal arena upon release,\u201d the lawyers advised.<\/p>\n The airing of the contents of that letter caused significant issues in CQ\u2019s case this week.<\/p>\n Porters Lawyers, the firm representing CQ, have subpoenaed two lawyers from Carroll & O\u2019Dea to give evidence, and the court heard the move may raise potential issues alleging professional misconduct.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n That required Carroll & O\u2019Dea lawyers to themselves have legal representation and made its ongoing representation of the Marist Brothers impossible, because it would create a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Carroll & O\u2019Dea told the court it would have to cease representing the Marist Brothers, causing a sudden halt to the trial and delays that will potentially stretch into next year.<\/p>\n The court also heard another matter against the Marist Brothers, also involving allegations against Chute, might be delayed.<\/p>\n Guardian Australia understands there are currently 15 cases against the Marist Brothers, represented by Carroll & O\u2019Dea, involving Chute.<\/p>\n In a statement, the Marist Brothers said it could not comment because the proceedings were ongoing. A spokesperson said it expects the trial will resume \u201ceither later this year or in early 2027\u201d.<\/p>\n Senior Marist Brothers have previously said that letter was sent as part of a chain of correspondence and was penned in the context of \u201cserious doubts\u201d about what Chute was claiming. The letter was examined in 2014 by the child abuse royal commission, which decided not to call its author to give evidence.<\/p>\n Crowe was asked about the letter at the royal commission, including whether it showed Chute was \u201cseen as a liability that may impact upon the Marist Brothers and one that they need to sweep under the carpet\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI agree that he does give the impression there of some liability,\u201d Crowe said. \u201cHowever, I would also believe \u2013 because this, once again, is all part of another series of communications \u2013 that there were serious doubts as to the evidence being given by John Chute.\u201d<\/p>\n Carroll & O\u2019Dea was approached for comment.<\/p>\n In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts<\/a> on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation<\/a> on 1300 657 380. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers from a leading law firm for the Marist Brothers have been subpoenaed to explain a once-confidential document…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-945637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793311810_332_2998.jpg\")
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