Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net

18 mars, 2005 20:27

Secret justice hides risks

Secrecy can kill, as Americans found out during the summer of 2000. For weeks, the news media were filled with stories of disastrous car wrecks and deaths in the 1990s that were linked to some Firestone tires. The company recalled 6.5 million tires - too late for the more than 200 people killed and the hundreds injured.

They may have died needlessly. Information about possible safety defects had been locked in lawyers' files for years. Scores of victims had sued Bridgestone/Firestone, and the tiremaker had settled - but the terms were secret. Documents were suppressed at the company's insistence, and lawyers couldn't discuss them.

Five years after the Firestone firestorm, similar conspiracies of secrecy continue. Courts have allowed lawyers to seal evidence about incompetent doctors, hazardous products and priests accused of child abuse.

The secrecy proliferates because it benefits everyone involved - everyone, of course, except ordinary Americans who may become the next victims.

Defendants want records sealed so they can hide bad behavior. Plaintiffs and their lawyers go along to avoid costly fights over documents and to extract quicker, bigger settlements. Judges approve deals to clear crowded calendars and to protect commercial interests or defendants' privacy.

No one knows the breadth of the problem, precisely because many secrets never find their way into the light. Yet, enough have surfaced to demonstrate secrecy's deadly effect.

Among the dangers hidden:

•Abusive priests Catholic priests who sexually abused children were concealed for decades with the help of courts. The Catholic Church settled victims' lawsuits secretly and insisted on orders to seal documents. Today, some courts are still protecting church secrets. In 2003, a Connecticut appeals court ruled that the court files in 23 sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Bridgeport should remain under wraps.

•Dangerous products. Courts across the nation have sealed records in lawsuits involving everything from silicone breast implants to drugs later taken off the market to vehicles involved in scores of fiery crashes.

• Incompetent doctors. Several South Carolina doctors have settled malpractice suits, one repeatedly, under deals that hide the facts and exact amounts from prospective patients, according to The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C.

About 30 states have laws or court rules to prevent hiding records. But secrecy can take many slippery forms, and appellate courts often undermine even strong rules. Court secrecy has many powerful backers, including major corporations and defense lawyers.

In California, 10 attempts to pass laws to prevent court secrecy have failed. Now, state Assemblywoman Fran Pavley is trying again: Her bill would prevent sealing "evidence concerning a public danger" that is discovered during a lawsuit. Similar legislation is being considered in Washington state.

Corporations, such as Bridgestone/Firestone, contend that secrecy is needed to protect trade secrets. But judges can determine that some documents remain sealed.

The justice system should protect the public. It has no valid excuse for hiding information that might save someone from a child molester or a deadly product.