Judge bars news
organizations from estate’s
settlement hearing

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

A hearing to approve a secret settlement between the Estate of James Campbell and its former law firm will be closed to the public, under a state judge's ruling.

Probate Judge Colleen Hirai yesterday approved the $2 billion trust's request to hold a closed hearing on Friday, saying none of the interested parties to the suit objected.

KITV-4 and the Star-Bulletin opposed the closure of the courtroom, arguing that the court's involvement in the legal dispute between Campbell Estate and its former law firm Ashford & Wriston makes it a public matter.

"When the judiciary branch makes secret cases on secret records based on secret evidence based on secret decisions based on a closed courtroom, it cuts off the right of the public to learn of the Judiciary's conducts as to favoritism or bias," said Evan Shirley, attorney for KITV and the Star-Bulletin. "It cuts off news at its source."

Ed Case, the estate's attorney, argued for the closed hearing, saying the parties intend to discuss privileged information and trade secrets during the hearing. Case added that the settlement between the Campbell Estate and Ashford & Wriston contains a confidentiality clause.

In 1999 the estate sued Ashford & Wriston for legal malpractice, saying the firm mishandled a multimillion-dollar leasehold arbitration case. The suit came after a trust beneficiary sued the firm for legal malpractice and petitioned for the trustees' removal.

In a sealed order last year, former Probate Judge Kevin Chang ruled in favor of Ashford & Wriston, saying the former trustees were in a position of conflict when they sued their former law firm.

Hirai previously had denied the news organizations' petition to unseal the details of the legal dispute, which includes Chang's sealed order. Hirai said the news media were not interested parties and therefore were not entitled to intervene in the dispute.

On Thursday, Shirley filed a petition for a writ of mandamus asking the state Supreme Court to vacate Hirai's order. Shirley argued that the judge erred in denying the public access to the legal proceedings.

The public's and the news media's access to an open judicial process is guaranteed by the First Amendment as well as common law, Shirley said.