Earnhardt autopsy mediation continues

By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
March 16, 2001
3:37 PM EST (2037 GMT)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After nearly 18 hours of negotiation, representatives of the Earnhardt family and the Orlando Sentinel had not reached an agreement Friday by 3:30 p.m. ET on a solution to a dispute over viewing the late Dale Earnhardt’s autopsy photographs.

On Thursday, Teresa Earnhardt arrived at the Volusia County Courthouse Annex shortly before 9 a.m.

A total of some 10 attorneys representing the two sides met from about 9 a.m. to just after 9 p.m. -- reportedly not even leaving the facility for meals.

Closed-door sessions were scheduled to continue Friday at the nearby offices of the court appointed mediator, attorney John J. Upchurch. Upchurch Thursday moved between the two sides' separate rooms at the courthouse and in meetings with them trying to balance the newspaper's request for access to the photos against the Earnhardt family's pleas for privacy.

Teresa Earnhardt, who left the courthouse at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, planned to confer with her attorneys by telephone Friday.

Florida statutes prohibited attorneys for both sides from discussing the case Thursday. A statement released Thursday morning from Earnhardt echoed the widow's fears that her husband's photos would soon reach the public and cause "permanent distress" to her family.

"We are disheartened by the growing number of media and individuals, including a Web site, that have joined the Orlando Sentinel in its quest to gain access to the autopsy photos," the statement read. "I have asked my legal representatives to be open-minded and approach today's mediation session in good faith."

The public record dispute over the autopsy photos has become a national news story. Teresa Earnhardt filed a lawsuit last month to stop Volusia County from releasing autopsy photos of her husband taken by the County Medical Examiner's Office after the seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion's fatal accident Feb. 18 on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

The Sentinel has led a media suit filed immediately after Earnhardt to allow a hired "medical expert" to view the photos to determine a cause of death, the paper says in the interest of improved safety in NASCAR racing.

Volusia County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Will has scheduled a formal hearing on the case for Monday, but ordered the two sides to attend the mediation session and "stay here until you resolve (the dispute) or are absolutely certain you cannot."