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Hurvitz v. Hoefflin11/20/2000
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles. Victoria G. Chaney, Judge.
Reversed in part and affirmed in part.
In this case we hold an order by the trial court sealing certain court documents and barring disclosure of certain information, whether obtained through discovery or otherwise, is an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
This appeal arises from a daisy chain of litigation among Dr. Steven Hoefflin, a cosmetic surgeon whose patients included many celebrities, and several of his former employees and associates. Appellant Dr. James S. Hurvitz is also a cosmetic surgeon, and had a business relationship with Hoefflin until the two reached a parting of the ways in 1996. Hurvitz filed suit against Hoefflin and his medical corporation, alleging causes of action for breach of contract and various torts including misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and slander per se. Hoefflin denied the allegations and filed a cross-complaint against Hurvitz and his wife, appellant Jackie Hurvitz, alleging various business torts on the part of the Hurvitzes.
Also in 1996, four members of Hoefflin's administrative and medical staff, Barbara Maywood, Kim Moore-Mestas, Lydia Benjamin and Donna Burton (the "former employees"), filed a lawsuit against him alleging sexual harassment (the "harassment action"). The case settled shortly after it was filed, with each of the former employees receiving $42,500 in exchange for their agreement to: (1) waive all claims against Hoefflin; (2) seal the Los Angeles Superior Court case file in the matter; (3) keep the subject matter of their claims and the terms of the settlement confidential; (4) not disclose the names of Hoefflin's patients, or try to solicit them for two years following the settlement; and (5) not "criticize, defame or disparage" Hoefflin or any persons or entities related to him and his medical corporation.
As part of the settlement of the harassment action, the former employees' attorneys executed a letter addressed "to whom it may concern," stating as follows: "In connection with our initial representation of [the former employees] a working draft of a proposed complaint was prepared before our investigation was completed. Regrettably, the complaint was inadvertently filed through an internal secretarial misunderstanding and immediately dismissed the same day when we learned of the mistaken filing. [ ] Upon further investigation, we have concluded that the allegations contained in the mistakenly filed complaint were without sufficient factual or legal basis. [ ] We regret any inconvenience or embarrassment the filing of the complaint has caused to Steven M. Hoefflin, M.D." Under the terms of the settlement Hoefflin was permitted to "use and disclose" the letter "if anyone inquires regarding the complaint or the subject matter of the complaint." The former employees, on the other hand, under the terms of the settlement could "only state that the matter has been resolved" and "say nothing further." Finally, Hoefflin agreed not to "criticize, defame or disparage" the former employees to third parties.
On October 26, 1997, the Washington Post published an article containing allegations of wrongdoing by Hoefflin, based on the allegations in a complaint prepared in connection with the former employees' action, but never filed. These allegations included highly inappropriate behavior by Hoefflin with respect to patients who had been anesthetized for surgical procedures. For example, Hurvitz was alleged to have exposed and ridiculed the genitals of unconscious patients. The Pos
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