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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Courts - More on: Kentucky judge rejects mayoral candidate's motion to seal divorce files

Updating this ILB entry from Oct. 28, 2009, Joseph Gerth of the Louisville Courier Journal reported yesterday in a story headlined "King's ex-wife asks judge to reconsider order opening court files" - here are some quotes:

The former wife of Louisville mayoral candidate Jim King has asked a judge to reconsider her order to open their 1981 and 1988 divorce cases, which contain allegations that Jim King abused his wife.

In the motion for reconsideration, Rebecca King also asked the judge – if the judge rules against her – to delay enforcement of the order unsealing the records for another 10 days. That would give Rebecca King time to appeal, if she wishes.

The Courier-Journal is fighting in court to keep the file open. It has argued that Jim King's past actions require scrutiny because King is running for the city's highest office.

In her decision on Nov. 3, Judge Patty Walker FitzGerald ordered just a few documents sealed, including psychologists' evaluations of Jim and Rebecca King, an affidavit relating to one of the couple's children and some financial information.

FitzGerald agreed to delay enforcement of her order until after Friday, giving lawyers for the Kings time to appeal her ruling to the state Court of Appeals.

Rebecca King's lawyer waited until the last day for appeals and then, instead of appealing the matter, asked FitzGerald to change her mind.

Tim Napier, a lawyer for The Courier-Journal, called it an attempt to delay the release of the records. "It's the same arguments they made before," he said. "They're rehashing their arguments in an effort to delay."

More from the story:
The Kings had originally asked jointly to have the file sealed but, after a Courier-Journal editorial criticized him for being secretive, he announced that he would not appeal whatever FitzGerald ruled.

Jim King did not join in Rebecca King's request for FitzGerald to reconsider. * * *

In requesting FitzGerald to reconsider her ruling, Rebecca King's lawyer, Don Cox, argued that FitzGerald's original ruling was wrong.

Specifically, he suggested that the judge didn't conduct a "document by document" review of the file before making her ruling.

FitzGerald clearly noted in her ruling that she had "reviewed those documents specifically identified by the parties" and that state law doesn't allow for them to be sealed.

Cox also argued that FitzGerald's order to destroy certain documents 30 days after her order took affect [ILB - sic] is an acknowledgement that the documents were "not public components of the civil trial" and therefore should not be released at all.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 14, 2009 09:02 AM
Posted to Courts in general