Globe Newspaper Co. v. Doe

12 Mass. L. Rptr. 501
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 4, 2000
DocketNo. 003790
StatusPublished

This text of 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 501 (Globe Newspaper Co. v. Doe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Globe Newspaper Co. v. Doe, 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 501 (Mass. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Gershengorn, J.

Plaintiff Globe Newspaper Co., Inc. (“the Globe”) filed this action, seeking to terminate the impoundment orders sealing the case number, docket sheet, pleadings, and trial exhibits entered in a prior case in Middlesex Superior Court, John Doe v. City of Cambridge (“the underlying case”). In addition to the Clerk of Middlesex Superior Court, the other named defendants here are all of the parties to the underlying case. John Doe, the City of Cambridge, and the Waltham-Weston Hospital have appeared before this Court, serving notice that the prior case involved privileged records.1 Only John Doe (“Doe”) opposes the termination of the impoundment orders by this court. He challenges this Court’s jurisdiction to address the impoundment orders through an independent action; claims that the pretrial publicity that would follow from a modification of the impoundment order would inherently damage his right to a fair criminal trial in the future; and argues that he has not waived the privileges covering some of the records in the underlying case. For the following reasons, this Court MODIFIES the impoundment orders to ALLOW the Globe, or any other member of the public, access to the court records, as defined below, and certain of the trial exhibits in the underlying case. This Court also VACATES the impoundment order issued in the current case.

BACKGROUND

The underlying case involved an attempt by Doe to expunge all records of a civil mental health commitment that occurred in 1991 under the terms of G.L.c. 123, §12 (1986 & Supp. 2000); see also St. 2000, c. 249 (emergency restraint of dangerous persons after independent examination). Doe claimed both that ex-pungement was necessary to protect his reputation and business opportunities, and that the commitment had been based on allegations of abuse made by his wife which were later recanted. Eight days after filing his complaint, Doe filed an ex parte motion for impoundment, with an attached affidavit by Doe detailing many of the circumstances that led up to his commitment. The court allowed the motion (“the ex parte impoundment order”). The record does not reflect any opposition to that motion, and the parties and their counsel operated under a strict confidentiality stipulation during the proceedings. Before this Court, the Globe has entered into another confidentiality stipulation to preserve the current sealed state of the court records for the underlying case, until this Court has made its ruling.

In 1993, Doe entered into a separate agreement for judgment with The Arbour which further limited disclosure of Doe’s real identity and of the fact of his commitment. This agreement stated:

If at any time after entiy of this Permanent Injunction, The Arbour is informed of allegations of spousal abuse by or against plaintiff and in connection therewith. The Arbour is served with a duly authorized request or subpoena for plaintiffs medical records, The Arbour shall not be precluded by this permanent injunction from disclosing plaintiffs identity or his medical records from the requestor. Nevertheless, The Arbour shall give five business days notice in writing to counsel of record for plaintiff in this action before The Arbour makes disclosure.

Doe’s medical and mental health records from The Arbour remain impounded along with the court records for the underlying case.

In 1994, the court in the underlying case held a five-day, jury-waived trial in a closed courtroom. The court issued a written decision (“the final decision”), refusing to expunge any records. The court also entered judgment and an order (“the clarifying impoundment order”), sealing the court records and allowing Doe to place in his hospital and insurance records, a written statement by Doe giving his version of the commitment. The court further restricted disclosure of the hospital and insurance records to disclosure for insurance purposes only, and required, for future [502]*502access and disclosure, Doe’s written authorization or a subsequent court order issued only after written notice to Doe. The court’s final decision however included findings of fact concerning the evidence heard and exhibits viewed, thus disclosing and making part of the court records certain privileged information discussed by witnesses and referenced during the closed trial proceedings in the underlying.case.

All of the trial exhibits and certain other privileged records not introduced at trial (such as those of The Arbour), remain in the court records for the underlying case. The trial exhibits also include privileged records and documents pertaining to parties other than Doe. None of the parties in the underlying case appealed the court’s final decision or the court’s clarifying impoundment order.

DISCUSSION I. Questions of Authority

Doe both challenges this Court’s authority to rule on the merits of the present case, in light of the final decision and the clarifying impoundment order in the underlying case, and argues that the Globe is not an appropriate party to bring this action.

A. This Court’s Authority 1. This Court Has Authority under the Uniform Rules

Doe argues that this court has no authority to review an impoundment order issued as part of a final judgment, contending that either the judge who presided over the trial in the underlying case is best associated with the facts that led to the original orders, or that Rule 12 of the Uniform Rules of Impoundment Procedure (“Uniform Rules”) allows for review of impoundment orders only, by “a single justice of an appellate court.”

The Uniform Rules, however, as incorporated into the rules of this court, see Trial Court Rule VIII, explicitly permit third parties to later challenge impoundment orders, and allow for courts to later modify those orders. See, e.g., Uniform Rule 4 (allowing notice for “interested third persons”); Uniform Rule 6 (permitting third parties to ask for a hearing even without having received notice); Uniform Rule 10 (allowing for modification of impoundment orders on motion by these “interested third persons,” regardless of whether they originally received notice); see also Rule 7 of the Uniform Rules (stating that agreement of the parties is not sufficient to impound court records, so an impoundment order should always be subject to a future challenge in the name of the public); accord Boston Herald, Inc. v. Sharpe, 432 Mass. 593, 600-01 (2000) [hereinafter Herald]; H.S. Gere & Sons, Inc. v. Frey, 400 Mass. 326, 329 n.7 (1987) [hereinafter Frey]. Furthermore, the thrust of the standards for issuing an impoundment order is that these orders may operate for a limited time only. See Uniform Rule 3 (ex parte impoundment may not last longer than ten days); Rule 8 (order of impoundment must “specify the duration of the order”). Even Uniform Rule 11, which applies to “material impounded by statute, court rule, or standing order,” notes that "the procedure otherwise set forth in these rules shall govern requests for relief from impoundment to the extent practicable”!;] it does not confine the possibility of a challenge to the appellate courts, or to a particular judge. This Court does not believe that the intent of the Uniform Rules was for parties years later to seek out the author of the original impoundment order when bringing challenges, or when seeking modifications to those orders issued as part of a final judgment.

2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 Mass. L. Rptr. 501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/globe-newspaper-co-v-doe-masssuperct-2000.