Opinion ID: 1752011
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Right to Control Access

Text: It is beyond question that a court has inherent, supervisory power over its own records and files. Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 1312, 55 L.Ed.2d 570, 580 (1978). This inherent power gives a trial court discretionary authority to deny access to its records and files. The critical issue in this case is whether the trial court was aware that it had this discretionary authority. Not surprisingly, the parties disagree sharply on this issue. On one side, the Diocese argues that the trial court wanted to seal the documents but simply could not find the authority to do so. According to the Diocese, the trial court focused solely on statutory authority and overlooked or failed to recognize its common-law authority to control access to its records and documents. On the other side, the appellee newspapers maintain that (1) the trial court was fully aware that it had the discretion to seal the stricken allegations, and (2) the trial court's order to deny the motion to seal the stricken allegations was the result of the proper exercise of the trial court's discretion. While both positions are supported by statements made by the trial court, we conclude that the deciding factor to this disagreement is the trial court's Opinion and Order of July 23, which states in pertinent part: There is no authority for sealing or removing pleadings or portions thereof that have been stricken. CR 12.06 merely states that on sufficient grounds the Court may order portions of a pleading be stricken. [The rule] does not say what stricken means, or how it is physically done. The Court has done a thorough, but not exhaustive, search for authority and could find none on point. In the Court's experience, the most common approach is to leave the document containing the stricken portions in the record, but to give them no legal effect. The remainder of a case flows from the amended documents. This process preserves the ability of a party aggrieved by the Court's ruling[,] to appeal on documents preserved officially in the record. It also meets the public interest of keeping all rulings by the Court open to scrutiny. However, such openness does serve to publicize allegations that the Court has ruled should never have been in the pleadings ab initio. The only protection for that is the legal finding by the Court that such allegations are improper as being sham, redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous. Graywolf, et al. v. Roman Catholic Dioceses of Covington, et al., 02-CI-2231 at 2 (Lexington Cir. Ct. Order entered July 23, 2002) (emphasis in original). This language tips the scales in the Diocese's favor and brings us to the conclusion that the trial court was not aware that it had the discretion to seal the stricken material. It is at this point that we disagree with the decision of the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals sidestepped the issue of whether the trial court was aware it had the discretion to seal the stricken allegations by holding that it would have been an abuse of discretion for the trial court to have sealed the stricken material. However, the Court of Appeals should not have made a hypothetical decision concerning how it would have decided this case had the trial court exercised its discretion to seal the stricken allegations. A discretionary decision whether to deny access to court documents and records should be made by the court in which those records and documents reside and not by an appellate court. United States v. Amodeo, 44 F.3d 141, 147 (2nd Cir.1995) ( Amodeo I ), citing Nixon, 435 U.S. at 599, 98 S.Ct. at 1313, 55 L.Ed.2d. at 580; cf. Peers, 747 S.W.2d at 130 (If the Courier-Journal makes an appropriate motion to intervene and requests a hearing, the trial judge shall conduct a hearing consistent with this Opinion to decide whether all or portions of the record in the underlying case ... shall be made available for inspection by the news media.) Because (1) the determination of whether to deny access depends on the unique facts and circumstances of each case, and (2) the question of access relates to the trial court's own records, we hold that the Court of Appeals erred in reaching and deciding the issue of whether denying access to the stricken allegations would have been an abuse of discretion. Since the trial court, unaware that it had the authority to do so, failed to exercise its discretion in its ruling on the Dioceses' motion to seal the stricken allegations, the Court of Appeals should have remanded the case for the trial court to make the initial determination of whether to seal the stricken material. Therefore, we correct the Court of Appeals' error and remand this case to the trial court to reconsider the Dioceses' motion to seal the stricken allegations. But we do so with the following discussion to guide the trial court's decision.