Opinion ID: 1623775
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Action [3]

Text: On August 6, 2007, Tenet-Memorial filed a motion in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for return of seized property pursuant to La. R.S. 15:41. In its motion, Tenet-Memorial sought to purge its documents from the AG's investigative file by seeking the return of all property, including documents and any copies thereof, produced to the AG pursuant to subpoenas duces tecum and seized by the AG pursuant to a search warrant. The Cable News Network (CNN) attempted to intervene, arguing that the return of copies would violate the Public Records Act, La. R.S. 44:1, et seq. The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court trial judge held a hearing on Tenet-Memorial's motion on August 16, 2007, and thereafter entered the following order: IT IS ORDERED that Hon. Charles C. Foti, Attorney General of the State of Louisiana and Hon. Eddie Jordan, District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans return the originals and all copies of materials produced as a result of a subpoena signed by this court, to the entities or organizations that produced material to the Attorney General's office or the District Attorney's office in this matter. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Attorney General and the District Attorney shall have 30 days to take writs on this order. That period ends on September 15, 2007. Unless a stay of this order is granted by an Appellate Court, the Attorney General and the District Attorney shall return the property to any entity or organization on or before September 16, 2007. In the interim, the Attorney General, District Attorney and any other governmental entity of the State of Louisiana in possession of such material shall not release any original documents, records, other property, or copies thereof that were produced as a result of a subpoena signed by this court in this matter. CNN sought supervisory writs and a stay from the court of appeal on September 7, 2007. That same day, the Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, denied both the writ and the stay, finding: Relator has no standing to seek supervisory review of the trial court's ruling. On September 12, 2007, the AG filed his own application seeking review by the court of appeal. Although the court found that the AG had the requisite standing, it denied the AG's writ on the following day. Thereafter, both CNN and the AG sought writs of certiorari from this court. We stayed the order of the trial court, granted certiorari, and consolidated the matters. In re: A Matter Under Investigation, 07-1853, 07-1870 (La.6/20/08), 984 So.2d 4.