Arkansas Dept. of Human Services v. Hardy

• Decision Date: 28 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-153,93-153
• Citation: 871 S.W.2d 352,316 Ark. 119
• Parties: ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Appellant, v. Robert HARDY, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 352

871 S.W.2d 352

316 Ark. 119

ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Appellant, v. Robert HARDY, Appellee.

No. 93-153.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 28, 1994.

G. Keith Griffith, Fort Smith, for appellant.

Eddie N. Christian, Fort Smith, for appellee.

DUDLEY, Justice.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services filed this paternity suit on behalf of Brenda Elliott, the mother of the child, and asked that Robert Hardy be found to be the father and that he be ordered to pay past and future child support. The chancellor heard the proof, decided the case, signed a final order setting out his ruling, and, in a second order, decreed that the final order was sealed. The Department appealed to the court of appeals. The court of appeals questioned whether it had jurisdiction and certified the case to this court for an interpretation of the various rules. We remanded the case for the parties to brief the issues of whether the chancellor validly sealed the final order and whether the appellate court obtained jurisdiction. Arkansas Dep't of Human Servs. v. Hardy, 314 Ark. 537, 866 S.W.2d 820 (1993). Their briefs have now been received, and the case is again submitted to us. We take jurisdiction, and reverse, modify, and remand.

The initial issue is whether the trial court entered a final order so that we have appellate jurisdiction. Rule 58 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "[e]very judgment or decree shall be set forth on a separate document. A judgment or decree is effective only when so set forth and entered as provided in Administrative Order Number 2." Administrative Order Number 2, in the material part, provides that a judgment or decree shall be "filed in the folio assigned to the action and shall be marked with its file number." Rule 4(e) of the Arkansas Rules of Appellate Procedure, which concerns the time for filing a notice of appeal, provides that an order is "entered" when it is "filed with the clerk of the court in which the claim was tried." The date a judgment is filed with a court clerk is denoted by the clerk marking or stamping the date and the word "filed" on the document. See Shaefer v. McGhee, 284 Ark. 370, 681 S.W.2d 353 (1984).

The final order in this case was set forth on a separate document as required by Rule 58. It contains the case number on the front page as well as the date the judge signed the order. It was filed with the clerk, and the clerk placed it in the folio assigned to the action, as required by Administrative Order Number 2. However, the clerk did not separately mark the final order because it was sealed in the envelope. Instead, the clerk taped a copy of the second order securely to the sealed envelope containing the final order. The second order provides: "The [final] Order made and entered by this court on the 19th day of October, 1992, is hereby sealed and filed in-camera and shall not be opened except by order of court of competent jurisdiction." The final order bears the identical style and date.

The issue is whether the final order was sufficiently marked by either the chancellor or the clerk to constitute entry. The clerk placed her filemark on the second order and then securely taped a copy of that second order onto the face of the envelope containing the final order so that there can be no doubt about the authenticity of the final order or the date it was handed to the clerk for placement in the folio. Consequently, we hold there was a sufficient marking of the final order to constitute an entry for purposes of this appeal. This holding is limited to the facts of this case, and, as can be seen from the next section of this opinion, it is a problem that should not arise again.

The foregoing issue came about because the chancellor sealed the final order, and, contrary to the arguments of both parties, we know of no authority for the sealing of a final order. One of the basic principles of a democracy is the people have a right to know what is done in their courts. Correlative of this principal is the vital function of the press to subject the judicial process to extensive public scrutiny and comment. See Arkansas Television Co. v. Tedder, 281 Ark. 152, 662 S.W.2d 174 (1983). Secret final orders could defeat this synergy of the peoples' right and the press's function, especially in cases in which the State is a party, as in this case. In Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966), the Supreme Court wrote that when public court business is conducted in private, it becomes impossible to expose corruption, incompetence, inefficiency, prejudice, and favoritism. For this reason traditional Anglo-American jurisprudence distrusts secrecy in judicial proceedings and favors a policy of maximum public access to proceedings and records of judicial tribunals. We have no hesitancy in holding the final order in this case should not have been sealed.

There is no rule providing for secret final orders, but parts of files may be sealed, and some hearings may be closed to the public. The General Assembly has provided the general rule that "every person may freely attend the sittings of every court." Ark.Code Ann. § 16-10-105 (1987). However, other statutes provide that particular proceedings may be closed under certain circumstances. See, e.g., Ark.Code Ann. § 4-75-605 (Repl.1991) (for cases involving trade secrets); § 9-9-217 (Repl.1993) (involving adoption proceedings); § 9-27-325 (Repl.1993) (for juvenile proceedings); and § 16-13-318 (1987) (involving domestic relations cases). Section 9-9-217 provides, "Adoption records shall be closed, confidential, and sealed unless authority to open them is provided by law or by order of the court for good cause shown." (Emphasis added.)

Without determining which branch of government has the power to make laws or rules providing that parts of files can be sealed or court proceedings can be closed, we note that Rule 26 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure provides for protective orders closing depositions, for protection of trade secrets, and for filing specified documents in sealed envelopes. In addition, Rule 6-3 of the Rules of the Supreme Court provides for anonymity in certain appellate proceedings by the use of the initials of the first and last name of children involved in adoption or juvenile proceedings. We often utilize this rule for appeals in adoption proceedings after the final order has been entered. See, e.g., In Re Adoption of K.F.H. and K.F.H., 311 Ark. 416, 844 S.W.2d 343 (1993). We have recognized the inherent authority of a trial court to issue appropriate protective orders to control court records, and, thus, the right to inspect public records is not absolute. See City of Fayetteville v. Edmark, 304 Ark. 179, 801 S.W.2d 275 (1990). Many jurisdictions have made similar holdings. See, e.g., Deere & Co. v. Finley, 103 Ill.App.3d 774, 59 Ill.Dec. 444, 431 N.E.2d 1201 (1981); Church of Scientology v. Armstrong, 232 Cal.App.3d 1060, 283 Cal.Rptr. 917 (1991); Werfel v. Fitzgerald, 23 A.D.2d 306, 260 N.Y.S.2d 791 (1965).

The inherent authority to seal parts of court files is tempered by the requirements that a request for sealing part of a file must be particularized, that there must be some good cause for sealing part of a file, such as a trade secret, and that it should be in effect for only so long as is necessary to protect the specified interest. If a trade secret has no value after five years, the protective order should be for no longer than five years. Deere & Co. In Giltner v. Stark, 219 N.W.2d 700, 707 (Iowa 1974), the court ruled that factual details of a divorce action might be sealed long enough "to permit the conciliation process to have some hope of success," but after that time the files were to be open. For the related requirement of particularization of a need for closure of a courtroom see Arkansas Television Company v. Tedder, 281 Ark. 152, 662 S.W.2d 174 (1983) and Arkansas Newspaper, Inc. v. Patterson, 281 Ark. 213, 662 S.W.2d 826 (1984). In summary, the trial court had no authority to seal the final order in this case, and we order it unsealed.

The chancellor ruled that Robert Hardy is the father of the child. There is no cross-appeal of that issue. The only assignments of error are those raised by the Department on direct appeal. In the first of these...