Total Divorce Blog

The Times Picayune is seeking to open the divorce records of a prominent councilman and his ex-wife based on the argument that a district court is violating both the Louisiana and the United States Constitution by keeping those records sealed. Of the 209 items pertaining to the divorce of Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young and former TV personality Mary Lou McCall, 195 of them currently can not be viewed. After being elected to the Parish Council in 2004, Young filed for divorce from his wife and sought that the records be sealed. The Louisiana Supreme Court will only let records be sealed on request when the right of privacy is greater than the public’s right to know and the only information to be sealed is so “sufficiently private” that it outweighs public disclosure. The Times Picayune has contested this second point in relation to this case and has claimed that the 24 District Court in Gentra is legally wrong to seal the records.

The newspaper request comes in the midst of a scandal surrounding Young’s new relationship with state Senator Julie Quinn. McCall has accused Quinn of slapping her eight year-old son that she had with Young. Quinn has denied the charge.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Divorce Law, Divorce News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.