Dale Earnhardt: Autopsy photographs controversy
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Dale Earnhardt was a NASCAR driver whose death on 18th February 2001 led to controversy over its causes and the degrees of responsibility of those involved which ultimately led to improvements in NASCAR and general race track safety. In the midst of the general controversy, legal, political and public opinion were all engaged in ways that changed Florida's laws as to how and under what circumstances public record medical examiner files, including autopsy photographs, would be released to members of the public.
On or about February 19, 2001, the Volusia Country Medical Examiner (hereinafter the "Medical Examiner") performed an autopsy on Dale Earnhardt's body.
During a press conference, Amy Rippel of the Orlando Sentinel made a public records request to inspect the public record autopsy records of Dale Earnhardt.
The unusual act of notifying NASCAR and Teresa Earnhardt was made prior to releasing the records sought by members of the public and media.
Shortly thereafter, on February 22, 2001, Teresa Earnhardt, then filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (hereinafter the "Injunction") in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Volusia County, Florida (Case No. 2001-30373-CICI Div. 32) (hereinafter "Earnhardt v. Volusia").
The attorneys who filed the Injunction in Earnhardt v. Volusia included Laurence Bartlett, of Crotty & Bartlett, P.A., 1800 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach, Florida 32114 (hereinafter "Crotty and Bartlett").
At the time, Crotty and Bartlett were the attorneys for the International Speedway Corporation (i.e., owners of NASCAR and the Daytona International Speedway).
Once the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief was filed, the Medical Examiner was barred from releasing the public records pertaining to Dale Earnhardt, to include autopsy photographs, until a formal hearing on the merits of Teresa Earnhardt's Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief could be heard.
On February 28, March 13, and March 16, 2001, the Orlando Sentinel ("Sentinel"), Michael Uribe, Founder of WebsiteCity.com ("Uribe"), and Campus Communications, Inc., publisher of The Independent Florida Alligator ("CCI"), filed motions to intervene into the Earnhardt v. Volusia litigation in order to uphold their rights to inspect and copy public records held by the Volusia County Medical Examiner to include the photographs and videotape of Dale Earnhardt's autopsy examination. (See, copies of these pleadings filed by the Sentinel, Uribe and CCI at Sentinel Motion to Intervene, Uribe Motion to Intervene, and CCI Motion to Intervene respectively).
On June 12-13, 2001, a trial was then conducted before the Honorable Judge Joseph Will. Judge Will eventually ruled against Uribe and CCI's original public records requests and constitutional arguments to inspect and copy the medical examiner files pertaining to Dale Earnhardt, to include autopsy photographs.
Judge Will's ruling set forth in motion an extensive legal battle later fought in the appellate courts by both Uribe and CCI seeking to deem the denial of their public records request unconstitutional under Florida State and Federal laws.
Then on December 1, 2003, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Uribe and CCI's appeal. (See original Petition for Writ of Certiorari). Thus, the Florida Legislature's March 29, 2001 law preventing release of Dale Earnhardt's public record autopsy photographs would remain in effect.
The Florida Legislature's March 29, 2001 law, also known as the Earnhardt Family Protection Act, was sponsored by Senator Jim King (R-Jacksonville) and changed Florida's previously long standing and historically open public records laws from that day onward. The Earnhardt law deemed Florida's medical examination autopsy photographs, video and audio recordings exempt from public inspection without the expressed permission from applicable next of kin. (Senator King, a strong privacy advocate, has since gained national prominence for leading the charge in the Florida Legislature to oppose government intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo in 2005.)
