State High Court Won’t Block Details of UCI Settlements

The California Supreme Court refused to hear arguments Wednesday that the privacy rights of couples sharing a $10-million settlement of their claims against UCI’s fertility clinic outweigh public interest in how taxpayer funds are spent.

The ruling means that details of settlements made with the 50 couples earlier this month should become public.

But officials at Orange County Superior Court said the settlements would not be available Wednesday because they had not received the Supreme Court’s order.

Orange attorney Melanie R. Blum, who represents 28 of the couples in the UCI fertility scandal, said Wednesday that she had yet to receive the order, and even if she did, there was “a good chance” she would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Blum had filed a writ in Orange County Superior Court earlier this year asking Judge Robert E. Thomas to prevent the disclosure of the names of the victims and the dollar amounts they would receive once settlements were granted.

Thomas denied the writ, “saying he intended to disclose the names and dollar amounts,” said Blum, who then filed a writ with the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, which declined to hear the matter, forcing Blum to go to the California Supreme Court.

“I appealed to them to grant a stay,” Blum said, “and prevent the disclosure until agreeing to at least hear the petition aimed at preventing my clients from disclosing private, individual information such as this.”

Blum said such disclosure “violates the privacy rights of individual plaintiffs. There’s already been a tremendous amount of media coverage, and these people were the victims. The most private parts of their lives are already public. I want to prevent further disclosure because I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Legal experts were watching the Supreme Court’s actions closely. Had the court agreed to hear the case, experts said, its decisions could have had wide-ranging implications for a citizen’s right to know how the government spends money.

The case stems from allegations that doctors at the fertility clinic stole eggs from women undergoing fertility treatment and implanted some of those eggs in other women.

Times staff writer Davan Maharaj contributed to this report.