Sealed civil lawsuits

Without openness in the judiciary, there can be no justice. A special committee has wisely recognized as much in proposing new rules that should make complete secrecy in civil litigation a thing of the past.

Earlier this year, a Review-Journal investigation discovered that Clark County judges had sealed more than 100 civil cases since 2000. These lawsuits had been hidden from the public solely to prevent wealthy parties from suffering embarrassment. In many cases, even the name of the judge who sealed the case was kept secret.

The message judges were sending to taxpayers was clear: Pay our salaries, pay for our staff and courtrooms, give of your time to serve on juries — but keep your noses out of our business.

On Monday, the Commission on Preservation, Access and Sealing of Court Records agreed on rules that would provide clear guidelines for judges to follow when a party in a civil lawsuit wants the case sealed from scrutiny. The rules must be reviewed by the Nevada Supreme Court before it can take effect, but justices shouldn’t have cause for concern in approving them.

The core of the proposal creates a default setting of openness for civil records, and requires a party to offer compelling reasons to seal a case. Those arguments themselves would have to be made public, and a judge would have to issue a written, public finding before granting secrecy.

Most importantly, the rules make clear that under no circumstances can an entire case file be withheld from the public, as Clark County District Court has done for the past seven years. At a minimum, the case number, counsel of record, the names of the parties, the date of the initial filing and the assigned judge shall be disclosed.

This commission, which brought together attorneys, members of the judiciary and media and other interested groups, did an outstanding job formulating these common-sense guidelines. If they’re followed to the letter, the public will gain some measure of confidence that the courts are functioning in a fair and unbiased manner, and that their interests are being put ahead of those of the privileged and powerful.