Breach Of Confidentiality...

[From Daily Record]

01/27/04 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom

Lawyers try to seal suit against former workers of Whitney

Judge says singer must follow court rules, use real names in complaint

By Peggy Wright, Daily Record

Even pop singer Whitney Houston is not immune from court rules, a judge decided Monday, prompting lawyers for the Mendham Township superstar to go to an appeals court to try to seal a lawsuit she filed against two ex-employees she fears are bad-mouthing her.

Attorneys for the 40-year-old singer and actress filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, Morristown, last week that used fictitious, generic names and transposed initials to hide the identities of Houston and her Newark-based entertainment company as plaintiffs in the case.

But the complaint is fraught with clues. It refers to "ABC Corp." as a Newark company that does business out of Mendham handling the corporate and business affairs of "H.W., a celebrity and well-known entertainer in both the music and motion picture industries." A phone number listed on one document is that of Nippy Inc., Houston's corporate affairs office.

The complaint is against "Jane Roe" of East Orange, and "Jane Doe" of Fort Lee, both former employees -- a seamstress and personal assistant -- who H.W. (Houston's initials transposed) believes have breached a confidentiality agreement. The two employees were let go in May, but barred through signed agreements from releasing any information about the singer, her husband or daughter, or her personal and business affairs, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint was filed with Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. MacKenzie, who, without ever naming Houston, told her lawyers in court that he would not seal the complaint and that it must be filed with true identities disclosed.

"The situation we have here does not call for secrecy, it calls for openness," the judge told attorney Jed Marcus, and cited a court rule that calls for lawsuits to be aired in open court. "There's no compelling reason not to," the judge added.

Marcus asked for a stay of the hearing Monday, but the judge declined, and Marcus said he would seek an order from the state's appellate division to seal the case.

Houston's lawyers want an injunction to block the two former employees from disclosing any personal information about her. The injunction request also might be viewed as a pre-emptive strike, since the employees have consulted Morristown lawyer William Koy about their terminations. According to the suit, Koy previously represented another Houston employee, who was let go in June 2002, and both Koy and this employee supposedly were barred then by agreement from making any disclosures about Houston.

Lawyers for Houston have been in Superior Court, Morristown, at least a half dozen times over the last decade, most often seeking restraining orders against over-zealous fans who have professed, in one case, to be the father of Houston's child or her daughter, in another case.

The singer is expected next month to visit Russia and give a concert in St. Petersburg and in the Kremlin concert hall in Moscow. Russian fans are paying up to $1,300 dollars per ticket, or nearly 10 times the country's average monthly wage to hear her perform at the Kremlin Palace, according to reports.

NEWSFILE: 27 JANUARY 2004