Roman Cath. Diocese of Lexington v. Noble
| Decision Date | 21 November 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 2002-SC-0659-MR.,2002-SC-0659-MR. |
| Citation | 92 S.W.3d 724 |
| Parties | ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF LEXINGTON, Appellant, v. Mary NOBLE, Judge, Fayette Circuit Court, Appellee. and The Lexington Herald-Leader Co., Inc.; and Cape Publications, Inc., d/b/a the Courier-Journal, Real Parties in Interest. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Appellant, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington, appeals as a matter of right from the denial of a petition for a writ of mandamus from the Court of Appeals. The petition sought to order Appellee, Judge Mary Noble, to enter an order sealing certain allegations that were struck from an amended complaint in the underlying case. We reverse and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings because the Court of Appeals erroneously decided the question of whether sealing the allegations would be an abuse of discretion.
On May 30, 2002, a complaint was filed against the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Covington and Lexington ("Dioceses") alleging sexual abuse by Dioceses' priests and active concealment of that abuse by the Dioceses. In response to the complaint, the Dioceses, inter alia, filed a motion for a more definite statement. The trial court granted the motion and ordered the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint. The plaintiffs complied with the trial court's order and certain allegations raised in the amended complaint form the subject matter of this case.
Concurrent with filing the amended complaint, the plaintiffs filed a motion to seal the entire court record pursuant to KRS 413.249(3). This motion required the clerk of the court to seal the entire record until the trial court ruled on the motion to seal. The Dioceses responded to the amended complaint by moving to strike certain allegations contained in the amended pleading. Additionally, the Dioceses moved that any allegations struck from the amended complaint be permanently sealed independent of the plaintiffs' motion to seal the record under KRS 413.249. Before the trial court could rule on the motion to seal or the motion to strike, the Lexington Herald-Leader moved to intervene in order to contest the plaintiffs' motion to seal the record. In the motion to intervene, the Herald-Leader alleged, inter alia, that KRS 413.249 was unconstitutional.
On July 23, 2002, the trial court granted the Dioceses' motion to strike certain allegations from the amended complaint and ordered the plaintiffs to file a Second Amended Complaint that omitted paragraphs 27, 36, and 43 through 65 of the First Amended Complaint. But the trial court denied the Dioceses' separate motion to seal the stricken allegations.
The next day, July 24, in addition to granting the Herald-Leader's motion to intervene, the trial court denied the plaintiffs' motion to seal the record on grounds that KRS 413.249 was unconstitutional. As a direct consequence of this ruling, the trial court ordered the clerk of the court to "unseal the record, and make all contained therein not under other legal restriction available in an orderly manner to the public, including the media." The Lexington Diocese (Diocese) — but not the Covington Diocese — then petitioned the Court of Appeals for intermediate relief pursuant to CR 76.36(1) and (4), and for a writ of mandamus to order the trial court to seal the stricken allegations.
The same day, Judge Tackett, of the Court of Appeals, entered an order granting the Diocese emergency relief. The order stayed indefinitely enforcement of the trial court's order to unseal the entire record in the underlying case. The Court of Appeals denied the Diocese's petition for a writ of mandamus on August 9. Nonetheless, it stayed the enforcement of its own order for seven (7) days to permit the Diocese to seek intermediate relief in this Court. This stay was expressly limited to the allegations that the trial court ordered struck from the First Amended Complaint, but which the trial court refused to seal.
Seven days later, on August 16, the Diocese filed a notice of appeal and petitioned this Court for intermediate relief under CR 76.33. We granted intermediate relief and stayed the enforcement of the Court of Appeals' order denying the Diocese's petition for a writ of mandamus. On September 17, we heard arguments on the Diocese's matter of right appeal from the Court of Appeals' order denying its petition for a writ of mandamus. At oral argument, it became clear that the resolution of this case turns on the issue of whether the trial court was aware that it had discretionary authority to deny the Diocese's motion to seal. But before discussing the issue, we first must determine whether we can reach it.
This case has a different posture than most cases concerning the sealing of documents. Usually the issue presented and litigated on appeal concerns an order by the trial court that grants a motion to deny access to court documents and records. See, e.g., In re The Courier-Journal v. Marshall, 828 F.2d 361 (6th Cir.1987). In a denial of access case, media representatives have the right to intervene and request a hearing on the trial court's order. See Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Co. v. Peers, Ky., 747 S.W.2d 125, 130 (1988). Once a media representative moves to intervene and requests a hearing, the representative may attack an adverse ruling by petitioning the Court of Appeals for a writ of mandamus or prohibition. Id. at 129. Peers held that the denial of access to court records and documents "represents exigent circumstances justifying coming directly to the appellate courts for an extraordinary remedy, i.e., prohibition or mandamus." Id. But where there is no order denying access, there are no exigent circumstances to justify granting the writ. Rather, the party seeking the writ, the Diocese in this case, must satisfy the usual and strict requirements for justifying relief by prohibition or mandamus. We now turn to the question of whether the Diocese has shown that it is entitled to relief.
A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy. University of Louisville v. Shake, Ky., 5 S.W.3d 107, 110 (1999). As there is no allegation that the court below is acting without jurisdiction, before we can reach the merits of the Diocese's petition, the Diocese ordinarily must first establish that it has no adequate remedy by appeal and that it will suffer great and irreparable injury if the writ is not granted. Bender v. Eaton, Ky., 343 S.W.2d 799, 801 (1961).
The alleged error in this case is the trial court's failure to seal the stricken allegations. Thus, the question to be asked is whether a favorable decision on appeal reversing this ruling would provide an adequate remedy for the harm or prejudice arising out of the alleged erroneous ruling. We conclude that it would not.
The harm that the trial court's ruling visits upon the Diocese is that access via court records to the stricken allegations creates an unfair connection between the allegations and the underlying case. As the trial court has already determined, those allegations are not only irrelevant, but they are, inter alia, impertinent and scandalous. Thus, the connection unnecessarily paints the Diocese in a bad public light. Consequently, there is a real possibility that the connection could endanger, to a degree, the Diocese's right to a fair trial. It is highly unlikely that this present threat of prejudice could be remedied at all in a future appeal. Thus, the Diocese has no adequate remedy by appeal. We now turn to the question of irreparable harm.
The Diocese argues that it will be irreparably harmed by the unsealing of the stricken allegations because the resulting publicity will prevent it from receiving a fair trial. This allegation does not rise to irreparable injury within the meaning of the rule. Injury that results in a "mere failure to succeed in [the underlying] litigation, followed by the loss of that which success might have brought [the petitioner]" does not establish great and irreparable harm within the meaning of requirements for granting a writ of mandamus or prohibition. Osborn v. Wolfford, 239 Ky. 470, 39 S.W.2d 672, 673 (1931); see also Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 801 (citing Osborn with approval). But a showing of irreparable harm is not an absolute prerequisite to being entitled to relief in the form of a writ of mandamus or prohibition.
Thus we find that in certain special cases this Court will entertain a petition for prohibition in the absence of a showing of specific great and irreparable injury to the petitioner, provided a substantial miscarriage of justice will result if the lower court is proceeding erroneously, and correction of the error is necessary and appropriate in the interest of orderly judicial administration. It may be observed that in such a situation the court is recognizing that if it fails to act the administration of justice generally will suffer the great and irreparable injury.
Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 801 (emphasis in original).
Recently, we have used this exception to address the merits of alleged discovery violations because the alleged errors were unlikely to be brought on direct appeal and proper construction of the discovery rules in question was important to the orderly administration of justice. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dickinson, Ky., 29 S.W.3d 796, 801 (2000). The case at bar is similar to ...
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