at 15:38 on August 2, 2006, EST.

NEW YORK (AP) - A judge Wednesday put off for a month a decision on a request by news organizations to reopen court files detailing a bitter family squabble over the care of 104-year-old philanthropist Brooke Astor.

The Associated Press, the Daily News, The New York Times and the New York Post had argued in court papers filed Monday that records in guardianship proceedings should be public.

At a hearing in state Supreme Court, New York's trial-level court, Justice John Stackhouse said he would give lawyers time to oppose the request in writing before making a final decision.

"I'm not going to shortchange them," Stackhouse said before setting another hearing for Aug. 28.

An interim order signed by Stackhouse last week instructed the court clerk "to seal the file in this matter" after the Daily News reported that Astor's grandson had gone to court to remove his father as her legal guardian.

The grandson, Philip Marshall, alleges that Astor had to sleep on a filthy couch to escape a cold bedroom, was refused no-skid socks and new outfits, and had her French chef replaced by a cook serving pureed peas and oatmeal, the Daily News reported. His father, Anthony Marshall, has denied any mistreatment.

On Wednesday, a lawyer for the news organizations, Katherine Bolger, said the file should immediately be reopened while the request to have it sealed - apparently made by Astor's grandson - is debated in court. By law, she said, "there's a presumption of openness."

She also argued that trying to seal files in the case, which has made news countrywide and has been a daily fixture in the New York papers since the story broke, was "like trying to put the cat back in the bag."

The judge said that despite the wording of his order, he only had issued a temporary stay denying public access to the file.

"I didn't seal anything," he said. "What I said was no access until there should be a sealing order."

The judge grew testy when Bolger complained that he met behind closed doors with Astor lawyers before the hearing by inviting them into his chambers through a side door.

"I'm not going to let news organizations or anyone else hold me hostage over when I can meet with lawyers," he said.

In their court papers, the news organizations argued that the public interest in a story that "focuses the spotlight on the problem of the neglect and mistreatment of the elderly" outweighs the privacy rights of figures like Astor and her son, who is a former diplomat and Broadway producer.


©The Canadian Press, 2006

I don't believe a thing in Canadian newspapers.

althom said:

[Vegemite order cancelled edit]