Case ID: f2d_982/html/1255-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "JOHN R. GIBSON,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

James CARROLL, Appellant, v. SOUTHWESTERN BELL CORPORATION; Southwestern Bell Telephone Company; Sickness and Accident Disability Benefits Plan, Medical Plan; Group Life Insurance Plan; The Benefit Plan Committee of the Sickness and Accident Disability Benefits Plan; The Employee Benefit Committee of the Pension Plan, Appellees.
    No. 92-3189.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
    Jan. 11, 1993.
   JOHN R. GIBSON,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent.

This case involves a dispute over attorneys’ fees in an ERISA claim that was settled. All of the settlement papers in the ERISA claim were sealed by the district court.

I feel strongly that the business of the courts is public business. I would require the parties to air their dispute in public. This case does not involve trade secrets, just a desire to keep the terms of a settlement secret. This the parties may do, but when they ask the court’s blessing, they ask too much. I have serious concerns about propriety of the district court order sealing the terms of the settlement. This court should not perpetuate this ruling.