State Appeals Court Upholds Public Access to Civil Trials

In the most sweeping decision of its kind, a state appeals court in Los Angeles has ruled that public access to civil trials is a fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right.

In a 28-page opinion handed down late Tuesday, the 2nd District of the state Court of Appeal overturned a Burbank judge’s order barring the media and public from the courtroom when the jury hearing a civil trial is not present.

Justice Paul Turner, who presides over the appeals court, wrote that the public’s right to attend court proceedings applied equally to civil and criminal trials. Such public access to civil trials is rooted in English common law and earlier decisions on access to criminal cases.

“The thread running through all these cases is that prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on 1st Amendment rights,” Turner wrote. “We conclude it embodies a right of public access to civil trials.”

The ruling stemmed from the fraud lawsuit filed by actress Sondra Locke against actor-director Clint Eastwood.

Media attorney Kelli L. Sager, who represented KNBC and The Times, said the court had not been specifically asked before to address the issue of public access to civil trials.

“I think this is a landmark case,” Sager said.

Other media attorneys and legal analysts agreed that the ruling will have a far-reaching impact, especially after the judicial backlash resulting from the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson.

“We always assumed there was some presumptive 1st Amendment right, and this case firmly confirms those beliefs,” said Tom Newton, attorney for the California Newspaper Publishers Assn., which represents about 500 daily and weekly newspapers.