In an order issued Monday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has ordered the settlement between Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal, the insurance companies for the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, and several unnamed deputies and Shandell Marie Bradley and her child with Victor White III unsealed.

Fifteenth Circuit Magistrate Judge Michael Hanna denied the motion to open the records of a settlement conference and post-conference meeting at which the amount of the settlement was set. Two media organizations, KATC-TV of Lafayette and The Advocate newspaper, filed a motion to have the records made public.

Although Bradley was the only opponent to having the records released, Hanna denied the motion.

Attorneys for the media companies argued in their appeal that the decision violated common law, Louisiana’s Open Records Law and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but the appeals court made its decision based solely on common law without having to invoke any more detailed arguments.

In its 23-page decision, the court differentiated between a settlement agreed upon out of court and the settlement with Bradley, saying that because the court was involved in the negotiation and since the minutes and records of the settlement conference and post-settlement conference were judicial records, they were in fact public documents. 

“While this court has not generally defined “judicial record” or yet interpreted minutes as a judicial record, it would defy common sense if the minutes in this case did not qualify as a judicial record,” the court wrote in its opinion.

“The district court abused its discretion in denying appellants’ motion for vacatur by relying on erroneous conclusions of law and misapplying the law to the facts,” the court said in conclusion, vacating the order sealing the records.