JUDGE UN-SEALS SHARON STONE LAWSUIT

Sharon Stone

Court officials in Los Angeles California have released details of a civil lawsuit filed against actress Sharon Stone after a judge "inadvertently" filed the case in secrecy. Attorney William Jacobson sued the Basic Instinct actress earlier this year, along with two movie companies, Libertine Films, Inc. and Chaos Productions, Inc., for $107,000 in legal fees he claimed were unpaid, plus interest. But the case, said to be a contract dispute, was kept from public view after Los Angeles California Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis "inadvertently" granted both sides’ wish to have the records sealed. An investigation by a local Californian newspaper, the City News Service, revealed the error and the case was made public yesterday in a hearing with the court system’s presiding judge. In a previous hearing during the privacy dispute, Judge Duffy-Lewis admitted, "No court has the jurisdiction to summarily decide that they will seal records because it’s painful or because it’s embarrassing or because they just deem it to be private for the parties." The records show the case was settled earlier this year for undisclosed terms.
Photo By: Sara De Boer/Retna