Legal Question Of The Day

Erick at Peach Pundit passed along a report from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that six Georgia legislators have filed a motion to remove the seal in the case of James J. Murtagh vs. The Fulton-Dekalb Hospital Authority etal.

I can confirm the pols involved because I was fortunate enough to see the motion about the same time it was filed yesterday.

I know there are several lawyers who peruse these parts so let's get some opinions flowing. Unofficial of course. Those with conflicts of interest feel free to step out of the room for a moment.

A quick summary.

Murtagh was a physician / professor employed by Emory University who worked at Grady Hospital.

He sued after receiving a poor peer review claiming retribution for pointing out potential malfeasance in the Emory / Grady agreement. In the end, the parties settled and agreed to have the case sealed.

Enter, the current Grady fiscal crisis brouhaha.

The position of the legislators is since public funds were possibly involved, such a case by statute cannot be sealed and even if it could be sealed, there is a compelling interest to get to the bottom of the allegations of corruption.

Although I haven't seen the response yet, I imagine the hospital and an army of attorney's response will be a seal is a seal and if we start piercing them willy nilly Lord know what will be next. Like, maybe some salacious previously sealed settlements involving high-profile politicians.

Whew boy, do we have the possibility of a particularly vile witches brew.

Thoughts?