Motion to intervene

A California federal court has ordered documents in a legal battle over smart phones and tablets unsealed -- a departure from the marked increase in the number of civil cases completely or partially sealed in courts nationwide.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America cannot prevent the release of court documents introduced in a child sexual abuse jury trial that resulted in a $19.4 million verdict against the organization.

A Virginia appellate court avoided deciding if a newspaper had a right of access to trial exhibits in a child murder case, despite a dissenting judge’s opinion that a procedural issue should not have barred a ruling that sealing the records violated the media’s First Amendment rights.

A Florida judge unsealed court records relating to the case of George Zimmerman - who is charged with the second-degree murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin - following legal requests by several news organizations.

The Miami Herald has asked a New York federal judge to unseal the docket in a complex criminal case that involves possible contempt charges against a lawyer, a Russian enterprise that preyed on land investors in Florida and Texas, and a businessman turned government cooperator.

An attorney who opposes an Ohio city prosecutor accused of racial discrimination is facing possible contempt charges after he released text messages involved in the lawsuit to two local newspaper reporters.

The attorney, Scott Cochran, and his client, the Islamic Society of Greater Youngstown, are accused of releasing the documents in violation of a court order requiring that any personal information contained in the records be redacted before their public release.

A Pennsylvania judge denied a request by two Pittsburgh-area newspapers to make public documents relating to a settlement between several gas drilling corporations and a local family, stating that the newspapers failed to petition before the documents were sealed.

A federal trial court in California granted a newspaper's request for documents in a civil lawsuit involving a 2007 forest fire that burned down tens of thousands of acres northeast of Sacramento, ruling that the writings became public records once they were filed with the court.

A Washington, D.C., trial judge erred when he did not allow Washington Post reporters access to the questionnaires of jurors who convicted the killer of former intern Chandra Levy, D.C.’s appellate court ruled today.