Opinion ID: 1661990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Motion To Place Documents Under Seal

Text: Emmett argues that C.C.'s deposition should not have been placed under seal by the Coahoma trial court, and that this Court should discontinue the placement of the deposition under seal. He contends that (the) deposition of C.C. was taken pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure under the auspices of a Mississippi court and the Mississippi counsel is not bound by the decrees of a foreign jurisdiction which has no authority in Mississippi. Emmett also argues that he could not challenge C.C.'s claim of privilege without communicating the questions which C.C. refused to answer; therefore, he did not violate the Georgia order placing the deposition under seal by including excerpts from the deposition to his Motion to Compel. That is, Emmett argues that he could not support his Motion to Compel answers to questions if he could not reveal those questions to the court. Finally, Emmett points out that the Georgia order, a matter of public record, addresses the subject of the relationship between Leslie and C.C. Therefore, he contends, the substance of Mr. C.C.'s deposition is already a part of the public record, and no prejudice or embarrassment will befall Mr. C.C. by adding to the public record the questions posed to him by counsel and his unresponsiveness to said questions. Emmett further argues that C.C.'s deposition is relevant and necessary to the understanding of these proceedings, and that because this case addresses issues of first impression, all documents which were a part of the proceeding should be made a part of the record and opinion of this Court. C.C. argues that the trial court correctly determined that he was entitled to protection from annoyance, embarrassment, and oppression, and that it was therefore necessary to issue a protective order and place documents filed in the case under seal. He argues that to unseal the documents now would resubject him to embarrassment, annoyance and oppression. He contends that the fact that the information is of public record in Georgia is of little or no consequence in determining whether the information should be made public in Mississippi. C.C. also argues that while Emmett was entitled to present the contents of the deposition to the trial court, he need not have done so in a manner which made it part of the public record in Mississippi. He suggests that the motion could have been filed under seal, or Emmett could have filed for in camera inspection by the trial court. Finally, C.C. notes that a final decree has been entered in the divorce proceedings in Georgia, and therefore that information contained in the various documents filed in Mississippi is now moot. Emmett's first argument, that the Mississippi court was not bound by the Georgia court's order placing the deposition under seal, is without merit. If, as Emmett suggests, the decree of a foreign jurisdiction ... ha(d) no authority in Mississippi, then C.C.'s deposition could not have been taken at all. [9] While not absolutely bound to do so, this state's courts generally recognize the validity of out-of-state decrees. At the very least, the Coahoma court would recognize the Georgia court's order to seal C.C.'s deposition under the doctrine of comity. Moreover, if the Georgia court saw fit to place C.C.'s deposition under seal, thus protecting him from embarrassment, annoyance, and oppression, certainly this state would have at least as strong an interest in protecting one of its own citizens from such adversity. This Court has not set out a standard for reviewing the sealing or unsealing of documents. We review the grant of C.C.'s Motion To Place Under Seal under the standard generally applied to decisions of the trial court below: whether the judge's ruling was manifestly wrong or constituted an abuse of discretion. We find no such error in the trial court's grant of C.C.'s Motion to Seal, since the judge had reason both to respect the Georgia court order, and to protect a Mississippi citizen from harassment. Emmett's argument that he had no choice but to include excerpts from C.C.'s deposition in his Motion to Compel is equally unpersuasive. As C.C. points out, there were several procedures by which Emmett could have sought court review of C.C.'s refusal to answer deposition questions without making excerpts from the deposition public. For example, documents supporting the Motion to Compel could have been filed under seal. In fact, such documents probably should have been filed under seal, in accordance with the spirit and purpose of the Georgia court order sealing C.C.'s deposition. Moreover, it is unclear why Emmett should seek to overturn the trial court's order placing documents under seal. His argument that keeping the documents under seal would, at this point, serve no purpose, since the matters are already public record, is  to say the least  disingenuous. It was Emmett's filing of the Motion to Compel, without taking measures to insure that his motion and any accompanying documents remain sealed, that caused portions of Emmett's deposition to become public record. That the matters of C.C.'s relationship with Leslie are already public record in Georgia (in the depositions of Emmett, Leslie and Dr. Gerson), is of no relevance to the question of whether documents concerning these matters should be under seal in Mississippi. Presumably, the protection C.C. seeks is most important in his home county and state. In short, Emmett has advanced no persuasive argument that the documents filed in this action should not remain under seal. The trial court held that C.C. should be spared the embarrassment, annoyance and oppression that might ensue from rendering these documents public. We find no suggestion that such holding was in error, and affirm the trial court's ruling. AFFIRMED. HAWKINS, C.J., DAN M. LEE, P.J., and SULLIVAN, PITTMAN, BANKS and SMITH, JJ., concur. McRAE, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by PRATHER, P.J.