April 17, 2001

Letter to the Editor
The Los Angeles Times

Dear Editor:

Fortunately for the public, legislators in Sacramento read bills more carefully than Times editorial writers seem to. Your editorial (Sometimes, Secrecy Kills, April 15) described the personal injury lawyersÍ latest legislative scheme as making "court records" open to the public. ThatÍs already the law. The California Supreme Court said so recently, and practically everyone agrees itÍs a good idea.

What the bills (SB 11 and AB 36) really do is treat everyoneÍs private information Ü not court records Ü as public information the minute they are sued or otherwise dragged into a civil lawsuit. That means peopleÍs health information and companiesÍ business and research data are threatened with disclosure simply because a lawyer spent $195 to file a lawsuit. All this before anyone has been found liable for wrongdoing or the accusations have even been tested. These bills are unfair, anti-privacy, and unnecessary. They are a gossip rag and fear mongererÍs dream. They are a boon to the lawyers who file copycat lawsuits and bludgeon people into high settlements.

Sincerely,

John H. Sullivan
President
Civil Justice Association of California