Court order upheld on divorce case of NASCAR CEO Brian France – NASCAR news
North Carolina Court of Appeals, in its recent directive, has upheld a former order which allowed the unsealing of documents in a divorce case that involved NASCAR head, Brian France.
It has been over 4 years since the divorce of the NASCAR chairman from Megan France, a Charlotte woman whom Brian married and divorced twice. Since then, France’s lawyers have been trying desperately to keep all related documents secret.
Dispute between Brian and Megan arose when Brian accused his ex-wife of deliberately violating the confidentiality and other provision of the agreement that the two had reached before they got divorced for a second time. Brian had filed a lawsuit in an effort
to keep the legal proceedings from becoming public.
Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Jena Culler, while observing in 2011 that a divorce case proceeding and its records have to be open to public inspection under the North Carolina law, had ordered the unsealing of divorce records, despite France’s
interest in keeping them secret. Culler had further observed that only high-profile divorce cases and child custody disputes could be sealed and that Brian France’s case did not fall under the high-profile category. Judge Culler’s decision reversed an earlier
judicial order which forbade the public disclosure of Brian-Megan divorce case records.
The NASCAR head immediately filed an appeal to review Judge Culler’s decision. The appeals court panel which comprised of three judges gave its verdict on Monday. In a unanimous decision, the appeals panel ruled that Culler’s decision would be upheld. Furthermore,
since the ruling of the appeals panel was unanimous, Brian France would not have the right of challenging the ruling in the North Carolina Supreme Court.
According to open court statements of lawyers, the couples’ divorce in 2008 had been agreed upon under the conditions that Megan France was to receive $9 million, and that was to be in addition to alimony of $32,000 and child support of $10,000 every month
for a period of 10 years.
In another lawsuit filed by Stephenson Jr., Brian France’s lawyer, France had accused his ex-wife of illegally recording several of their telephone conversations. NASCAR CEO had also made an effort to keep the proceedings of this lawsuit a secret as well
until he dropped the case altogether.
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