This is sometimes done without any documented justification. But the secrecy means that a select few get to resolve their legal disputes in private, keeping potentially embarrassing allegations out of the public eye. Such cases represent fewer than 1% of all civil cases filed in Hawaii courts, according to the Judiciary. Members of the public have no way of knowing the cases even exist. Even the records explaining why the cases are sealed are – you guessed it – sealed. Unlike the vast majority of lawsuits, the identities of the parties, their attorneys and the judge the list of events in the case known as the docket and all case records are entirely secret. (April Estrellon/Civil Beat 2023)Ĭases with this designation are entirely hidden from public view. The reasons for the confidentiality are also secret. There are hundreds of cases in the Hawaii court system that are shielded from public view. It was one of more than 600 civil cases the state court system marked as “confidential” between 20, according to the Hawaii State Judiciary. In 2005, she sued her alleged abuser and the church, a multibillion-dollar institution and major Hawaii landowner, and the case was settled out of court shortly thereafter, court records show. When she was 15, the plaintiff said was sexually assaulted and emotionally abused by her guardian, a “high-ranking official” in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to court records. The case might’ve made headlines if anyone had known about it. In confidential lawsuits, a select few can keep sometimes embarrassing legal disputes hush-hush in ways that experts say may violate the First Amendment.
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