A Pennsylvania judge surprised the corporate world by ordering the
unsealing of a settlement between a family and a fracking company,
saying businesses do not enjoy the right of privacy under the state’s
constitution.
Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca of the Washington County Court of Common
Pleas ruled last month that the details of a $750,000 payment by
Texas-based Range Resources to Stephanie and Chris Hallowich for
potential harm to their children must be disclosed to the public.
The decision will enable newspapers, which had sued to have the
settlement unsealed, as well as environmentalists and community rights
advocates, to examine the court case’s health issues and causes.
Seneca’s decision represented a major blow to fracking companies, which
have relied on secrecy agreements with landowners to hide the
environmental and health impacts of natural gas drilling.
The judge cited the text of the 1776 Pennsylvania constitution and
other documents in concluding: “Nothing in that jurisprudence indicates
that that right [of privacy] is available to business entities.”
She added that “The plain meaning of ‘people’ is the living, breathing
humans of this Commonwealth” and that “it is axiomatic that
corporations, companies, and partnerships have ‘no spiritual nature,’
‘feelings,’ ‘intellect,’ ‘beliefs,’ ‘thoughts,’ ‘emotions,’ or
‘sensations,’ because they do not exist in the manner that humankind
exists.”
Seneca also quoted the 17th century writings of William Penn, the
founder of Pennsylvania, noting that “It is highly improbable that Penn
founded Pennsylvania with an eye towards securing liberty for business
entities or to grant them a right of privacy.”
Seneca wrote that “our courts have never extended the constitutional
right of privacy to a corporation, company, or partnership” and that the
U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment “use of the word ‘person’ that makes
its protections applicable to business entities” does not apply to
Pennsylvania’s constitution. “The exact opposite is derived from plan
language of Article X of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.”
The defendants, Range Resources, MarkWest Energy Partners and Williams
Gas/Laurel Mountain Midstream Partners, were given 30 days to appeal the
decision.
Noel Brinkerhoff – David Wallechinsky – April 16, 2013 – posted at AllGov
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