UPDATE

03/24/97
In early March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (6th Cir.) holding that the public has no right of access to summary jury trials because they are settlement proceedings to which the right of access does not apply.

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ordered that a summary jury trial be held to encourage a settlement in a class-action suit by inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville against state officials for failing to protect them during an April 1993 riot.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the parties reached an out- of-court settlement totalling approximately $ 55 million. (In re Cincinnati Enquirer; Media Counsel: John Greiner, Cincinnati)