Sharon Stone: Wants lawsuit to remain undisclosed

Sharon Stone: Wants lawsuit to remain undisclosed

A civil lawsuit against  Sharon Stone that was secretly issued  was nothing but a routine dispute over legal fees that both sides wished not to be disclosed, though the judge said that they were sealed in error.

On Friday the court officials released the records after days of inquiry by numerous media outlets. Being filed in November by an attorney by seeking over $107,000 in legal fees, the lawsuit was never entered into public records . Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy -Lewis added that she "inadvertently" sealed the entire court file.

The case was identified by a City News Service reporter, who heard of it at the time of covering an unrelated hearing but could not find related documents. Allan Parachini, the court spokesman, said that it was "impossible" to determine whether any other cases involving celebrities or other litigants might remain outside public records in Los Angeles' Superior Court system.

The case was similar to contract disputes that are filed against celebrities in Los Angeles. William Jacobson sued the "Basic Instinct" actress and two film companies namely Libertine Films, Inc. and Chaos Productions, Inc., for 107,000 dollars in legal fees which he claimed were unpaid.

Earlier this year the matter was settled for undisclosed terms. On Friday Sharon Stone's publicist Paul Bloch remarked that the actress had no comment to make.

As per the  records being released on Friday the attorneys for both Stone and Jacobson intended to have the case kept from public scrutiny.

"The matters of this litigation are private in nature between parties and do not require public disclosure and would serve no useful purpose in being disclosed." Jacobson's attorney, David E. Bower wrote in a November that were filing in support of sealing the case.

The filing noted that Stone's side refused to have a private court resolve the dispute. It was a point Duffy -Lewis raised to attorneys for Stone and Jacobson during a later court hearing.

"No court has the jurisdiction to summarily decide that they will seal records because it's painful or because it's embarrassing or because they just deem it to be private for the parties”. Duffy -Lewis told Bower during a hearing in the month of February.

She also added that at one point it would be "more reasonable" to seal certain cases so that the details did not appear in stories by several media outlets. However Duffy -Lewis added that she did not have that authority.

After one year she ended a hearing that was called to resolve the issue of whether the case could remain sealed before a decision. It was not till this week after numerous inquiries from reporters and a meeting on  Friday that involved the court system's presiding judge that the records were finally opened.

The open records advocates said that the use of secret court dockets is a growing problem.

"No. 1 the use of this is increasing," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, a nonprofit group based in Arlington, Va., that is funded through donations and sales of its reports. "No. 2 . It is illegal."

Sharon Stone said that the secret cases are becoming common in the federal justice system, but often involves criminal matters.

Dalglish added, "What on Earth could possibly be the justification for sealing a run-of-the-mill civil lawsuit?" "The folks who are rich and powerful don't want to abide by the same rules the rest of us do."