Judiciary

Settlement Requires Judge to Pull Rulings from Westlaw, Lexis

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A federal judge in Philadelphia has agreed to direct Westlaw and Lexis to pull eight of his published rulings in an attractive nuisance case to honor the terms of a confidential settlement.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel vacated his opinions and directed their removal from the legal publishers’ databases after the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to him, the Legal Intelligencer reports.

Westlaw spokeswoman Gretchen DeSutter told the Intelligencer that Stengel’s request would “absolutely” be honored. Lexis didn’t return the publication’s calls before its deadline.

Lawyer Robert Clothier of Fox Rothschild, who handles access issues for the Intelligencer, said he was troubled because the motion to seal the court papers was also filed under seal.

The teenage plaintiffs in the case had been awarded $24 million in damages for burns suffered after they climbed on top of a parked Amtrak train.

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