Door opened in bid to unseal Black documents

The Globe and Mail
Fri 10 Oct 2008
Page: A12
Section: National News
Byline: Kirk Makin
Source: JUSTICE REPORTER

Businessman Conrad Black has failed in a bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada keep a seal on documents caught up in recent legal troubles involving his global business empire.

In refusing to hear an appeal of an earlier Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in the case, the Supreme Court set in stone an important triumph for press freedom.

The ruling asserted the right of the media to challenge similar sealing orders, while at the same time paving the way for the documents in the Black case to be unsealed.

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada has not seen fit to review the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision that affirmed the principle of openness and the need for public oversight of judicial decisions," Globe and Mail lawyer Peter Jacobsen said in an interview.

James Morton
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