« Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals decides on today | Main | Ind. Gov't. - House Republicans vow to end health care perk, permanently »

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - Nondisclosure agreement reportedly bars public from seeing settlement

The AP reported this morning:

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- The city has settled with the mayor's former administrative assistant over her allegations that she was fired after spurning his sexual advances. * * *

"The case is resolved," said Keesee's attorney, Bruce Petit. "There is a nondisclosure required in the settlement, so we really can't say more than we've resolved it to a mutual satisfaction."

Zumer said he was working with the city's attorney on a public statement about the settlement. He denied the allegations in February when Keesee filed a notice warning the city she intended to sue over her dismissal.

Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana picked up on it here, saying:
Excuse me, nondisclosure or not, this settlement is a matter of public record. Taxpayers money has been used to defend and settle this charge, and the taxpayers have every right to see the terms of that settlement agreement. I don't see an exclusion in Indiana's Access to Public Records law which covers settlement agreements in litigation against a governmental body.
Then Doug Masson of Masson's Blog wrote about it here, noting the recent Court of Appeals decision in Knightstown Banner, LLC v. Town of Knightstown, et al.

Here is the ILB Dec. 13, 2005 summary of the Knightstown decision. And this ILB entry, from Dec. 14th, contains several reviews on the decision. It ends with the ILB asking:

As pointed out in the last two paragraphs of this Nov. 11, 2005 ILB entry, many settlements involving governmental units in Indiana currently are not made available to the public. Will the Knightstown ruling have legs?
The Nov. 11, 2005 entry referenced contains examples of other municipal settlements withheld from the public.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 23, 2006 02:35 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions | Indiana Government | Indiana Law