Emily Bazelon.NORTHAMPTON – Ruling in favor of Emily Bazelon, a reporter covering the Phoebe Prince story, a Hampshire Superior Court judge has ordered the town of South Hadley to release the terms of a settlement with the Prince family.
Judge Mary-Lou Rup wrote the public has a First Amendment right to see the details of the settlement between the town and Anne O'Brien and Jeremy Prince, including how much money South Hadley paid the family over the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination complaint. The couple maintained that the town and certain town officials failed in their duty to protect their daughter against sexual harassment at South Hadley High School.
Prince, a 15-year-old freshman, hanged herself in January 2010 after what investigators have described as a period of bullying and harassment by some classmates. Six South Hadley High School students were charged in connection with their treatment of Prince, but none was sentenced to jail time.
Bazelon, a reporter for the online publication Slate, requested the settlement information from Town Counsel Edward Ryan and other town officials but was told it was confidential. Bazelon subsequently sued for the information. Last week, her lawyer, American Civil Liberties Union attorney William C. Newman, argued before Rup that confidentiality did not apply in the case and that the documents should be available to the public.
In her ruling, issued Friday, Rup agreed, saying Bazelon had demonstrated the public’s right to know and that the town has failed to demonstrate any possible harm in disclosing the information. However, Rup gave the town a week to appeal the matter before it has to turn over the documents. If it decides not to appeal, they will be made public at that time.
Bazelon said Friday that she is pleased by the decision.
“I think it was right on the law and I look forward to publishing the settlement as soon as I get it,” she said.
Newman called it a victory for the public.
“This forcefully supports the importance of transparency in government,” he said.
Emily Bazelon v. Town of South Hadley Memorandum of Decision and Order