ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Internal memos and financial documents
related to baseball's abandoned attempt to eliminate the Minnesota
Twins should remain under wraps, a court ruled Tuesday.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld a decision denying media
access to documents gathered by a public agency during its attempt
to stop major league baseball from dissolving the Twins before last
season.
The Associated Press, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and
KARE-TV have argued for the right to inspect the information on
several grounds.
Judge Jill Flaskamp Halbrooks, writing for the unanimous
three-judge panel, disagreed. She said that because of the way a
CD-ROM containing 9,000 imaged documents was obtained the "media
have no common-law right to access."
The news organizations have 30 days to decide whether to appeal
to the state Supreme Court. Their lawyer, John Borger, said an
appeal is under consideration.
Joe Anthony, a lawyer for major league baseball, said the
court's opinion should discourage further appeal.
The media case is the last vestige of litigation initiated in
November 2001 when baseball attempted to fold the Twins and at
least one other team. After several court setbacks, baseball
officials gave up on contraction and agreed to preserve the Twins
at least through this season.
The media organizations contended the public should have a right
to pursue claims of access to documents received by government
agencies during litigation.
The news organizations also hoped to review a document filed by
major league baseball that concerned banking interests of Twins
owner Carl Pohlad in which some names were blacked out. That
request also was rejected Tuesday.