© The Associated Press 2000. (Image: The U.S. Supreme Court)
By: Caitlin Hogan
The Legal Intelligencer, a Philadelphia-based legal newspaper, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to unseal the case index of the civil suit, Jane Doe v. C.A.R.S. Protection Plus Inc., Fred Kohl.
According to The Associated Press, the western Pennsylvania case, which was filed by a woman claiming she was fired after having an abortion, has been litigated in secret for seven years. The case was never publicized and a search for it in the district court’s database yields no returns. Information finally surfaced this year when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals published its ruling against the employer’s motion to unseal the case file.
The woman claims she was fired by C.A.R.S. Protection Plus Inc. because she had an abortion. According to the company, the woman was terminated because she “abandoned her job by taking an unexcused absence.” The lawsuit was dismissed by a district court, but the woman later appealed with a “gender-discrimination claim.”
Little is known about a court’s ability to seal civil cases. Circuit courts in New York and Atlanta have ruled against secret dockets. However, newspapers in Washington, Connecticut and Nevada have asked courts to unseal cases involving “civil rights issues or prominent local citizens.”
The Legal Intelligencer does not wish to reveal the woman’s identity, but Robert C. Clothier, the lawyer representing the newspaper, wonders how the judicial system is being checked and balanced if cases of civil interest remain sealed.
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