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LAFAYETTE - A lawsuit filed 17 years ago over the alleged misconduct of a former Catholic Diocese of Lafayette music director has been settled and will likely never be opened to public view, attorneys in the case said this week.

The lawsuit, filed against the diocese in 1986 by a teenage girl, was set for trial on March 24.

Attorneys on both sides declined to comment on whether any money was paid in the settlement, or any terms of the agreement.

The diocese has declined to say whether the music director, Dwight Hebert, ever faced allegations of sexual misconduct in connection with his work as a music director in several churches in the diocese.

Hebert, who died in 1990, had been charged in 1988 with various sex crimes for alleged inappropriate conduct with juveniles. The charges were unrelated to the lawsuit and court records did not indicate whether the allegations were in connection with Hebert's church work.

Hebert pleaded guilty to reduced charges of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and was sentenced to five years probation and one year in the parish jail. He died while on probation.

The church referred all comments to attorney Gil Dozier.

"The parties have resolved the dispute. …It's just a case that has come to an end, and that's all I can say," Dozier said.

The case was originally sealed at the request of the teenager's family when the lawsuit was filed, but attorney Clay Burgess, who represents the family, had asked last year that the case be unsealed.

State District Judge Jules Edwards had ordered that the case be open to public view but he has since changed course and ordered it to remain sealed.

"I determined that is the most appropriate course of action," Edwards said. "I previously issued an order that the record would be unsealed, but one side was happy and one side was unhappy."

Edwards said people who are discussed in the lawsuit but not a party to the legal case were concerned about the record being made public.

Dozier has said the church did not oppose that request, but that the outside parties mentioned in the lawsuit did.

Attorney Kirk Piccione said he was hired by a client not directly involved in the case to keep parts of the record sealed. He declined to comment on who the client is or the person's involvement.