IN THE STATE COURT OF DEKALB COUNTY STATE OF GEORGIA

Transcription

1 IN THE STATE COURT OF DEKALB COUNTY STATE OF GEORGIA PATRICK C. DESMOND AND MARY C. DESMOND, INDIVIDUALLY, AND MARY C. DESMOND, AS ) Civil Action No. 10A ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF PATRICK W. DESMOND, Plaintiffs, v. NARCONON OF GEORGIA, INC. DELGADO DEVELOPMENT, INC., SOVEREIGN PLACE, LLC, SOVEREIGN PLACE APARTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC., LISA CAROLINA ROBBINS, M.D. THE ROBBINS GROUP, INC., and NARCONON INTERNATIONAL, Defendants. CONSOLIDATED MOTION AND MEMORANDUM PURSUANT TO UNIFORM SUPERIOR (STATE) COURT RULE 21 TO UNSEAL DOCUMENTS On April 16, 2012 Plaintiffs filed with the Court a number of documents under seal. (See "Filing Under Seal", Ex. A.) The documents were filed in connection with the pending Motion for Sanctions. The documents were filed under seal at the request of Narconon International and Narconon of Georgia ("the Narconon defendants") and over Plaintiffs' objection. There are four sets of documents which Plaintiffs do not believe should be sealed. They are: 1) Urgent Directive Documents ( ); 2) Post Incident Documents ( ); 3) Board of Investigation Documents ( ); and, 4) Misc. Narconon Documents ( ). Prior to the filing of the documents with the Court, the terms of the Protective Order governed the dissemination of the documents. Although Plaintiffs do not believe that the

2 Protective Order prevented the disclosure of the documents in the first place, since they were used "for litigation", that question is now moot, because the documents have been filed with the Court. When documents are filed with a court, there is a legal presumption that the records should immediately be made public. See Uniform Superior Court Rule 21. The presumptive right of public access to court documents includes prejudgment records in civil cases and begins when a judicial document is filed. See Atlanta Journal v. Long, 258 Ga. 410 (1988). The burden rests squarely with the Narconon defendants to come forward with respect to each of the documents outlined above and to establish that their privacy interests clearly outweighs the public interest. See id. To date there has been no showing at all by the Narconon defendants that the sealed documents should be barred from public disclosure. Accordingly, Plaintiff requests pursuant to Uniform Superior (State) Court Rule 21 that the documents be immediately unsealed. This the 1st day of May, Colony Square 1201 Peachtree St.,NE Suite 900 Atlanta, GA Telephone: (404) Facsimile: (404)

3 IN THE STATE COURT OF DEKALB COUNTY STATE OF GEORGIA PATRICK C. DESMOND AND MARY C. DESMOND, INDIVIDUALLY, AND MARY C. DESMOND, AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF PATRICK W. DESMOND, Civil Action No. 10A Plaintiffs, v. NARCONON OF GEORGIA, INC. ) DELGADO DEVELOPMENT, INC., ) SOVEREIGN PLACE, LLC, SOVEREIGN ) PLACE APARTMENT MANAGEMENT, ) INC., LISA CAROLINA ROBBINS, M.D. ) THE ROBBINS GROUP, INC., and ) NARCONON INTERNATIONAL, ) Defendants. ) FILING UNDER SEAL Plaintiffs hereby file the following documents under seal: Urgent Directive Documents - Bates Nos Post-Incident Documents - Bates Nos Board of Investigation Documents - Bates Nos Brad Taylor Personnel File - Bates Nos Misc. Narconon Documents - Bates Nos Brad Taylor Student File - Bates Nos This 16* day of April,

4 400 Colony Square 1201 Peachtree Street, NE Suite 900 Atlanta, GA Telephone: (404) Facsimile: (404) REBECCA C. FRANKLIN Georgia Bar No FRANKLIN LAW, LLC 400 Colony Square 1201 Peachtree Street, NE Suite 900 Atlanta, GA Telephone: (404) Facsimile: (404) Attorneys for Plaintiffs 2

5 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that I have this day submitted FILING UNDER SEAL via U.S. Mail proper postage prepaid, addressed as follows: Robert G. Tanner, Esq. Jeffrey N. Amason, Esq. Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, LLC 3344 Peachtree Road, Suite 2400 Atlanta, Georgia Sean L. Hynes, Esq. Downey & Cleveland, LLP 288 Washington Ave. Marietta, GA Attorneys for Lisa Carolina Robbins, M.D., and The Robbins Group, Inc. Attorneys for Delgado Development, Inc. Stevan A Miller, Esq. Drew, Eckl & Farnham, LLP 880 W. Peachtree Street P.O. Box 7600 Atlanta, Georgia Attorneys for Narconon of Georgia, Inc., and Narconon International This the 16th day of April, H^RRISjPENN LOWRY DELCAMPO, JED W. MANTON Georgia Bar No

6 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that I have this day submitted RULE 5.2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE OF DISCOVERY via U.S. Mail proper postage prepaid, addressed as follows: Robert G. Tanner, Esq. Jeffrey N. Amason, Esq. Scott Kerew, Esq. Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, LLC 3344 Peachtree Road, Suite 2400 Atlanta, Georgia Sean L. Hynes, Esq. Downey & Cleveland, LLP 288 Washington Ave. Marietta, GA Attorneys for Delgado Development, Inc. Attorneys for Lisa Carolina Robbins, M.D., and The Robbins Group, Inc. Stevan A Miller, Esq. Kathryn S. Whitlock, Esq. Drew, Eckl & Farnham, LLP 880 W. Peachtree Street P.O. Box 7600 Atlanta, Georgia Attorneys for Narconon of Georgia, Inc., and Narconon International 3