Plaintiffs Fight Bid to Keep Simpson Civil Case Secret : Courts: The Browns and Goldmans argue that there is no legal basis to seal the deposition or other pretrial matters in their wrongful death lawsuits.

Lawyers for the families of murder victims Ronald L. Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson filed papers in court Tuesday strongly opposing the request of O.J. Simpson that all pretrial proceedings--including his deposition--in their wrongful death cases be kept secret.

“We will resist Mr. Simpson’s attempt to conduct this lawsuit in secrecy,” said attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli, who represents Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman’s father.

The papers were filed in response to an Oct. 26 motion by Simpson attorney Robert C. Baker seeking a protective order to keep Simpson’s sworn deposition confidential. Baker’s motion also asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Allan B. Haber not to allow the deposition to be videotaped.

Baker has contended that the public does not have a right to know the details of Simpson’s upcoming deposition, in which lawyers for the two families are expected to question Simpson about a host of issues, including his actions on the night of June 12, 1994, when Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were slain. Moreover, his legal pleadings argue that if the contents of the deposition became public it might taint potential jurors in the civil case.

But three briefs filed on behalf of family members of the victims counter that there is no valid legal reason to grant Simpson’s request for secrecy.

Additionally, the papers lodged on behalf of Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo, Goldman’s mother, characterize Simpson’s requests to seal the deposition and impose a gag order on the parties as hypocritical.

“After purposely saturating the media with self-serving spin for the past 16 months, defendant Orenthal James Simpson has abruptly and cynically shifted gears,” Petrocelli said. If Simpson is granted “special rights,” including “a Draconian protective order, which will shroud these proceedings in a cloak of secrecy,” that would significantly hamper the plaintiff’s ability to find and question potential witnesses and prepare their case for trial, Petrocelli said in his legal filing.

Petrocelli and Rufo’s attorney, Michael A. Brewer, said it is “disingenuous” for Simpson to contend that the jury pool has been tainted by publicity. Petrocelli’s brief notes that as recently as Oct. 4, Simpson “appeared by telephone on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live,’ publicly revealing his purported alibi for his whereabouts on June, 12, 1994.”

All three legal briefs, as well as a fourth filed on behalf of several media organizations, including The Times, cite a rule of the Los Angeles Superior Court that declares that requests to seal depositions are “disfavored.” According to the rule, such requests may only be approved after a showing has been made that secrecy is in the public interest, that the person urging secrecy has a particular reason--such as the protection of a trade secret--and that disclosure of the material would cause serious harm.

Petrocelli’s brief argues that Simpson has not “come close to meeting his statutory burden of establishing good cause for the drastic order he seeks.”

Haber is scheduled to hear oral arguments next Wednesday.