Sharon Stone’s lawsuit will be opened to the public
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The L.A. Superior Court judge who ordered a case involving Sharon Stone hidden from public view for six months has reversed course and will unseal the entire file this afternoon, a court spokesman said.
The suit, the spokesman said, concerns a disagreement over $100,000 the actress allegedly owed a former entertainment attorney. The relatively minor stakes in a courthouse that routinely airs the divorces, child custody battles and sex suits of Hollywood stars would seem to make Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis’ sealing of the case file even more puzzling.
Court spokesman Allan Parachini said the judge would add to the Stone file an explanation of her “supersealing” – or removing the case from the court docket.
“This arose from a misunderstanding and an inadvertent error by the judge,” Parachini said.
Duffy-Lewis’ repeatedly brushed aside requests by reporters this week to view the file and a court reporter declined to release transcripts of open, public hearings in the case until the judge signed off on it. But after a noontime hearing with Presiding Judge Charles McCoy and other court officials, she changed her mind.
Asked whether there might be other secret cases in the courthouse involving high-profile individuals or companies, the spokesman said he could not say.
“We’re unaware of any other case in this category or with similar circumstances,” Parachini said. “However, it would be impossible to determine that in an absolute sense because there is no record-keeping mechanism that records sealing orders in that fashion.”
McCoy has acknowledged and sought to address past problems with public access in the courthouse, but he declined to respond to questions about the possibility of other cases supersealed in error.
“It’s the presiding judges assumption that all of our court officers abide by court rules,” Parachini said.
-- Harriet Ryan