Courtroom closed while matter decided
Jump to full article: New Orleans (LA) Times Picayune, 2004-06-18
Author: Susan Finch / Staff writer
Intro: A judge who oversaw the eight-year legal battle between four tobacco companies and a class of about 500,000 Louisiana smokers should be recused from a hearing on whether defense consultants acted properly in questioning jurors about their $599 million verdict, tobacco company lawyers said.
Thursday, a second judge declined to disqualify retired Civil District Judge Richard Ganucheau, who presided over the legal struggle featuring some of the city's leading defense and plaintiff attorneys.
Civil District Judge Ethel Sims Julien excluded the public Thursday from her courtroom as she considered whether to disqualify Ganucheau.
At the urging of attorneys on both sides of the case, and over objections from The Times-Picayune, Julien ruled that only participants in the case could be present when she heard arguments on a defense request that she sideline Ganucheau and have another judge named to investigate the jury questioning.
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