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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Ind. Courts - More on: Judge unseals records in French Lick casino dispute today

A number of stories today on the French Lick casino dispute, but they focus on the details of dispute, rather than the action of the judge in sealing the entire lawsuit, including the docket itself, for nearly two months, and his reversal yesterday of that action.

Mike Smith of the AP has this updated story, that concludes:

The partners had sought to keep the court documents confidential, but several newspapers asked Judge Blanton to make the lawsuits and records pertaining to them public. Although some information was redacted, most was not.

Blanton set an Aug. 14 hearing to determine whether he will decide ownership interest or leave it to arbitration.

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener's story in the Louisville Courier Journal includes these quotes:
Court documents say that gives William Cook every right to be on the property, overseeing the spending of more than $100million he has personally invested in the project.

But Lauth has asked Orange Circuit Judge Larry Blanton to issue an injunction, stopping Cook's involvement and keeping him off the property.

The request, lawsuits and other court documents had been kept confidential since June, when Blanton granted the companies' requests to seal them.

However, at a hearing yesterday, attorneys for The Courier-Journal, several other newspapers and Attorney General Steve Carter argued that the records should be opened because it serves the public interest. Blanton agreed.

"I think everybody agrees this was the right decision," said Jeremy Rogers, an attorney representing The Courier-Journal.

The documents released yesterday fill in the details of a dispute that Yelton first acknowledged in early June, when he said that Lauth and Orange County Holding were in mediation to resolve some differences about control of the project.

Yelton said yesterday that the commission is investigating the allegations in the lawsuits and other documents filed with the court. * * *

Lauth and Orange County Holding are next scheduled to appear in Orange Circuit Court on Aug. 14, when Blanton will decide whether he will determine the ownership interest in Blue Sky or whether that will be left to arbitration.

Here, from the Bedford Times-Mail yesterday, is some focus on the issue of the sealing and unsealing of the records. Roger Moon writes:
PAOLI - Court documents involving two Orange County casino lawsuits were made available for public review in a decision that came this morning in Orange Circuit Court.

Orange Circuit Court Judge Larry Blanton had sealed the records in early June.

He said today, “I took the unusual and unprecedented action for a variety of reasons.” One reason, Blanton said, was to allow him more time to research the law. He said, “I acted with an overabundance of caution.” * * *

At the parties' request, the documents were sealed, meaning closed to the public. Lauth and Cook have agreed not to discuss the lawsuits publicly.

Steve Ferguson, chairman of the Bloomington-based Cook Group, Inc., said after the hearing, “Of course, you would like to keep this kind of dispute between the two parties, but we clearly understand what the law says.”

Today's ruling came after attorneys for newspapers argued that the records should be made public and that neither Cook nor Lauth representatives had met the burden of proof on why the cases should remain sealed.

Angela Parker, an attorney representing a number of newspapers, including the Times-Mail and its sister newspaper, the Herald-Times of Bloomington, said in court, “The public wasn't informed and didn't know why (the cases were sealed). The need to speculate put the public at a disadvantage.”

Arguments for opening the case also were presented by the Indiana Attorney General's office. Attorney General Steve Carter, in a statement released over the weekend, said, “Judicial proceedings regarding gambling should be subject to public observance and review. The public's interests are likely to be impacted by litigation between these two private entities. Any time there is government involvement with respect to the gambling industry, it should be subject to heightened public scrutiny.”

Attorneys for Merit Gaming also spoke at today's hearing. Merit Gaming has a pending lawsuit that claims partners in the Blue Sky Casino venture had “tortuously interfered” with the process that culminated in Blue Sky being chosen to operate the casino. Merit Gaming had been interested in applying for the contract and maintained it was forced out of the process.

The Merit attorney argued, “We have action pending against both of these. We would like to examine the filings in this matter to see if they would contain admissions that would be pertinent to our litigation.”

Blanton, in his decision to seal the files in June, cited Indiana law that allows certain information - including records containing trade secrets and confidential financial information - to be sealed.

Today's hearing came after a number of newspapers requested that pleadings and other papers filed in the matters be made available to the public.

As I wrote yesterday, the Bloomington Herald-Times may have been giving excellent coverage on this important story, but no one except its subscribers (and the ILB is not a subscriber) has had access to it. If you are a subscriber, you've probably already read the most recent story at breakfast. If not, here is the link.

For a detailed story on the lawsuits, see the combined efforts of J.K. Wall, Mary Beth Schneider, Theodore Kim and Vasanth Sridharan in today's Indianapolis Star. Business columnist John Ketzenberger adds a feature on Bill Cook, including this:

It's not hard to see why both sides asked the judge to keep their fight secret. There's plenty of lawyerly nastiness tucked into the filings. The court and the Indiana Gaming Commission will sort things out, so I won't presume judgment.

Clearly the partners are fighting for control of the project. As I read it, Lauth Group's taking a buttoned-down approach, looking to cash in for all it can on the state's last gambling license by spending only what's in the casino project's budget. That is, if Lauth can get financing.

Cook Group's got plenty of money. And it's got Bill Cook's passion. Why stop at mere trim in the hotel if you can have gold leaf for $600,000 more? In Cook's view, it costs only a little more to go first class. * * *

The West Baden Springs Hotel was literally crumbling when Historic Landmarks of Indiana called Cook in the early 1990s and asked for help.

Now that it's on the verge of being fully restored, Cook has a lot more than $34 million in the project. He obviously has his heart in it, too. Now he can envision couples strolling the formal gardens that surround the hotel, something that was nearly impossible to imagine up there on the roof with us seven years ago. What once captured his fancy is now nearly real.

Who knows how this legal brawl will end. The court will solve that. But when it comes to finishing the project, you can take this to the bank: Bill Cook will get 'er done.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 1, 2006 08:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts