Records director: City settlement not private but federal seal keeps it closed for now

Director Pearson ruled on Appeal No. 2025063 that a settlement agreement resolving litigation involving "Southern Utah's Drag Stars" is a government contract presumptively subject to disclosure under Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), but he said his order cannot unseal a record that is currently sealed by a federal court.

Pearson said he reviewed the settlement in camera and found it "is not properly classified as private" under GRAMA’s privacy provisions and that a confidentiality clause in the agreement is unenforceable against the statute. "I don't believe that is enforceable," he said, adding that contracts dealing with public expenditures are normally public and that redaction can protect any legitimately sensitive items.

The city, through attorney Alicia Carlton, argued the record was removed from public access after a federal court granted a motion to seal under the District of Utah local Civil Rule 5‑3 and warned that releasing the document could breach confidentiality obligations and expose the city to damages. "The brief was or the record was sealed by the court on motion of Suds," Carlton said, and she told the director the city would not release the document without the court’s direction.

Mark Eddington of the Salt Lake Tribune urged disclosure and urged redaction rather than wholesale nondisclosure, saying taxpayers deserve to know how public money is spent. Eddington argued that seals and private clauses cannot be used to defeat GRAMA requests and that the public interest in transparency "outweighs the city's concerns about privacy or negative publicity." He recommended redaction where necessary.

Pearson resolved the legal tension by distinguishing statutory authority from the federal court seal: although he found the settlement should be public under GRAMA and that confidentiality language is contrary to the statute, he concluded he "is not within my power to unseal a record that's sealed by order of a federal court." He therefore ordered that once the federal court’s seal is lifted the settlement must be released under the DGO order. He said he will issue a written decision within seven business days and that either party may appeal to district court within 30 calendar days.

The director suggested the Tribune could seek relief from the federal court to lift the seal if it wants immediate access, noting the city had provided the settlement for in‑camera review to the DGO in advance of the hearing.