Uniformity in sealed cases reported

Court records in Nevada might not be sealed with a kiss, but at least they are sealed — or redacted — in a consistent, uniform fashion for the first time in state history.

That’s the message sent to the Nevada Supreme Court in a public hearing late Wednesday to determine whether rule changes adopted three years ago were working. The commission was created after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Frank Geary revealed in February 2007 that Clark County District Courts had sealed dozens of lawsuits, many involving wealthy and influential persons, against public inspection.

Information kept secret included the nature of the lawsuit and the outcome, the name of the judge who ordered it sealed, whether the plaintiff or the defendant requested it be sealed and any explanation for why it was sealed.

When Steve and Elaine Wynn divorced in 2009, he was granted a request to seal the case because of the assets the couple would split, which could be considered proprietary information. The divorce between former Gov. Jim Gibbons and Dawn Gibbons was sealed amid allegations the one-term governor was having an affair with the wife of a Reno doctor.

Prior to 2007 civil cases could be sealed without any explanation from the parties or the presiding judge. The rules adopted since then require a party to demonstrate a valid safety concern, or that terms of a settlement must remain confidential to protect personal information or, as in the Wynn case, proprietary concerns because both Steve and Elaine Wynn were and continue to be corporate officers. Matters dealing with intellectual property and trade secrets also may be sealed upon request.

Medical, mental health and tax information also can be sealed while the remainder of a case remains in the public domain.

Prior to the rule changes, the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that lawsuits — and monetary settlements — were sealed in cases that involved public entities such as the Clark County School District and the Las Vegas and Henderson police departments. Cases involving doctors, lawyers, even a porn star also were sealed prior to the rule change, according to Geary’s report — which the Nevada Legislature made part of the official record when lawmakers debated the rule change in 2007.

In November every court administrator and clerk in Nevada was surveyed to determine how the Sealing and Redacting Rule was working.

Court system analyst Stephanie Heying said those questions involved the number of cases in which an attorney or party requested a file to be sealed; how many were granted; how many were denied; how many were pending.

Officials in 11 of Nevada’s 17 counties reported no civil records were sealed in the survey period.

Predictably, the bulk of requests came from the state’s two urban centers, in Clark and Washoe counties. Washoe’s Second Judicial District, according to Heying, received 37 requests to seal over the first six months of 2010, of which 34 were granted and 3 were denied.

In Clark County, where the Eight Judicial District is located, 47 requests were made and 35 granted. Two were granted in part; seven were denied and three are pending. Eight other requests were made in 4 rural courts: One in the Fourth (Elko) and Ninth (Douglas County) that were granted; four in the Third (Churchill County) that were granted; and two in the First (Storey County).

"Three years have passed since the court issued the order adopting the sealing and redacting of court records rule," Heying said. "When asked, all of the courts responded they have not had any problems implementing the order."

Las Vegas Review-Journal Special Projects Editor A.D. Hopkins contributed to this report. Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512 or read more courts coverage at lvlegalnews.com.