The Debate Over E-Discovery
June 2005— Companies like tobacco giant Philip Morris USA and Celebrex manufacturer Pfizer, Inc., are among the many corporate heavyweights lobbying a committee of federal court rulemakers to make their emails difficult to obtain. The result can only be to make it more difficult to hold wrongdoers accountable when they put profits ahead of safety and American lives.
Ten Principles on the Right to Know
September 28 This September, to mark the third annual International Right to Know Day, the Open Society Justice Initiative announced a set of 10 principles on the right of access to information. AAJ strongly stands behind #7 when it comes to corporate efforts to seal documents used in lawsuits:
7. The public interest takes precedence over secrecy.
Information must be released when the public interest outweighs
any harm in releasing it. There is a strong presumption that information
about threats to the environment, health, or human rights, and information
revealing corruption, should be released, given the high public
interest in such information.
Defendants in civil litigation, as a condition to discovery or settlement, often seek to keep private the information emerging from litigation. Secrecy in our state and federal courts undermines the right to know of every American citizen and keeps vital health and safety information out of the public's reach, leading to needless injuries and deaths caused by defective products.
Why Oppose Secrecy? (March 18)
Contact:
AAJ Communications
(202) 965-3500, x369
media.replies@justice.org
