James Brown Estate Case Continues

The South Carolina Supreme Court cancelled a lower court’s Feb. 2 hearing in which a freelance journalist covering the nine-year fight over the estate of singer James Brown might have been forced to reveal her sources.

Photo: Matt Dunham/AP,file

Live 8 concert at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Circuit Judge Doyet Early III opened court by telling the lawyers about the ruling that came in less than 30 minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start.

The justices ruled that only the Supreme Court can decide whether the request that reporter Sue Summer give up her cellphone, notes and other records is legal. An attorney for Tommie Ray Hynie, Brown’s widow, wants to know who sent Summer his client’s diary, which was supposed to be kept secret under a judge’s order.

Summer said she was sent the diary late January by an anonymous source. She published it on her Facebook page after giving lawyers and Early a few days to object. The judge then held a hearing to decide who can attend an upcoming mediation hearing aimed at settling the legal fight over the estate of Brown, who died in 2006. The date for the mediation has not been set.

The state Attorney General’s Office earlier brokered a settlement, but the state Supreme Court ruled it didn’t follow Brown’s wishes that a good chunk of his estate pay for education for poor children. That sent it back into Early’s courtroom.

Daily Pulse