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Supreme Court: Wrongful death settlements are public records
Unanimous opinion upholds a circuit court ruling that it was improper to permit the suits to be settled without the details disclosed in court.
Date published: 9/12/2008 The settlement terms of several wrongful death lawsuits brought in Spotsylvania County against a pharmaceutical company must be disclosed publicly and cannot be sealed in the court records, a Virginia Supreme Court ruled today. The unanimous opinion upholds a circuit court ruling that it was improper to permit the suits to be settled without the details disclosed in court. The deaths occurred at Mary Washington Hospital 2004 and 2005 and the defendants in the case were B. Braun Medical Inc. and its subsidiary, Central Admixture Pharmacy Services (CAPS). After the cases were settled with the settlement terms filed in the court records, The Free Lance-Star and the Richmond Times-Dispatch intervened and, after hearings, a circuit judge ruled that the terms of the settlements must be filed in the court clerk’s office. The judge agreed to seal the settlements until the Supreme Court decided the appeals. The opinion was written by Justice Lawrence Koontz. Malpractice lawsuits were brought by Sue Carol Perreault, Phyllis Ann Mulholland, Sue Ella C. Musselman, and Dona J. Holt on behalf of family members who died as a result of the administration during open-heart surgery of an improperly formulated or contaminated cardioplegic solution manufactured and distributed by CAPS. Read the opinion: http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1071978.pdf
Date published: 9/12/2008
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