(no subject)
January 11, 2005
Judge Orders Release of Rosa Parks's Mental Health Records in Fight Over Song
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING
edical
records about the mental health of Rosa Parks, whose actions helped
start the civil rights movement, will be made public, a federal judge
in Detroit ruled yesterday.
The judge, George C. Steeh of Federal District Court, ordered the
release of some of Ms. Parks's records in response to a request by The
Detroit Free Press in connection with a legal fight between Ms. Parks's
representatives and record companies and music distributors. Ms. Parks,
91, suffers from dementia, her doctor has said in court documents.
The records could be released as early as the end of the week, said
Dennis Archer, a former mayor of Detroit whom Judge Steeh appointed as
Ms. Parks's guardian. Mr. Archer, who argued that the records should be
kept private, said it was a shame that a person of Ms. Parks's stature
had to make records public.
"You will in effect be hurting someone who has done so much for
Americans and for persons of color," Mr. Archer, a former State Supreme
Court justice, said. "It's private. It doesn't serve anybody any good."
A lawyer for The Free Press argued that the documents, which had
been submitted to the court under a protective order, might show
whether Ms. Parks had approved the suits filed on her behalf against
members of the music industry in connection with a song that used her
name in its title.
Family members have questioned whether Ms. Parks's caretakers and a
lawyer who filed a suit on her behalf in 1999 against OutKast, a
hip-hop group, and BMG, the record company, acted with her approval.
Some relatives said they believed that Ms. Parks was being exploited
and would not have been offended by the use of her name in a song.
Since then, a judge dismissed OutKast as a defendant. A second suit was
filed last summer seeking $5 billion from record companies and
distributors.
A lawyer for the newspaper, Herschel Fink, said news organizations,
not judges, should decide whether the health information was newsworthy
or should remain private.
"There's been a lot that has come up in recent weeks about whether
the lawsuit even reflects her will," Mr. Fink said. "Her nieces have
been quoted in newspaper stories saying that Auntie Rosa would not have
wanted this lawsuit."
Judge Steeh ordered Ms. Parks's lawyers to review the documents and
submit any that they believed should remain private before final
decisions on each document.
"So much has already been discussed and released about Ms. Parks's
mental health," Mr. Fink said. "I think that once a dispute is
submitted to the public's courts, the public has a right to see and to
oversee what takes place."
Ms. Parks defied segregation laws in 1955 by refusing to give up her
seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala. That prompted a boycott that led
to integration of the bus system.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company |
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