Editorial: Settlements should not be secrets

Monday, March 24, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, is sponsoring legislation that would prevent courts from keeping secret those settlements that involve public hazards. Supporting Titus' legislation are the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association and the Nevada Press Association, of which the Sun is a member. It is in the public interest to ban secret settlements that involve products that could harm or even, in some instances, kill people.

But don't tell that to some business groups, including retailers, manufacturing companies and drug makers. John Sande III, a Reno attorney who represents the drug maker Pfizer, asserts that "The system is not broken. The courts can address this on a case-by-case basis." Despite Sande's reasoning, the problem is that judges have been all too willing to agree to secrecy provisions in settlements sought by both the plaintiffs and defendants.

This isn't some esoteric issue. People die because of these needless secrets. Federal regulators say there have been 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries linked to accidents involving Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles that used Firestone tires. The public didn't know soon enough about the tire's tread-separation problems because of secret settlements between the victims and Firestone. We've also learned in recent years about secrecy settlements that have prevented the public from finding out about incompetent doctors and sexually abusive clergy. The later the public finds out about such incidents, the greater the chance for individuals to become victims.

Legislation to ban secret settlements involving public hazards was advocated in 2001, the last regular session of the Nevada Legislature. But business groups fought the proposal and won. It's not as if Nevada is blazing new ground. As the Nevada Press Association noted, 17 states already have similar types of laws. The fact is that the courts are supposed to be open. And, especially when a suit is settled involving a public hazard, those cases should be open to the public.