Several media outlets are putting their combined muscle together in a federal civil action regarding the 2007 settlement in the case of State Farm Insurance vs. Attorney General Jim Hood. Jackson New Media, Inc., publisher of the Y'all Politics blog, filed to unseal the settlement yesterday, and three TV stations filed joinder motions to intervene: WLBT in Jackson, WLOX in Biloxi and WDAM in Hattiesburg.
These media outlet [sic] have requested that US District Court Judge David Bramlette make public a settlement agreement entered into between State Farm Insurance and the Mississippi Attorney General's office that was executed hours after General Hood was questioned under oath. Jackson New Media points to its free press and free access rights under the First Amendment, as well as the Mississippi Constitution and state law as the basis for the opening of the settlement document between State Farm and Hood.
Since executing the settlement agreement, both sides have had material disagreement about its meaning or even that a settlement agreement exists.
"Hundreds of thousands of Mississippians were adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina," Y'all Politics attorney Andy Taggart said in the story. "This was a watershed piece of litigation that tens of thousands of homeowners and all Mississippi taxpayers have a stake in. All we ask from the Court is to allow the press and the public their First Amendment right to access relevant court materials and remove the lingering doubts as to what really happened in this matter."
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