Secret Los Angeles Superior Court cases?

Before joining the Daily Breeze in 2001, I had two reporting jobs that centered more on the civil side of the law. At the now-defunct Inside.com, it was all about the entertainment industry and at the Los Angeles Daily Journal, I covered cases involving interesting legal issues, the government and lawyers. I was based at the downtown Stanley Mosk Courthouse for both those jobs and, every afternoon around 4 p.m., me and reporters from several other news outlets trooped down to the clerk's office to look at every single new case filed that day in a hunt for newsworthy litigation.

Times have changed since then. It was competitive then, but nothing like the TMZ-driven 24-hour celebrity news machines that churn now. Even though I'm (thankfully) no longer a part of that world, it was with great alarm that I read today's Los Angeles Times article about the "supersealing" of a case filed against actress Sharon Stone.

Like the article mentions, it's not so much about the court's willingness to shield this particular case from the public eye. But in a world where I have a difficult time pulling criminal and civil cases in even the most mundane, low-profile of cases, I can't help but wonder: What else is being hidden? We should all be concerned.

UPDATE: Judge changes mind.