Full Throttle

A judge ruled Wednesday…

… that the public can see all the previously sealed exhibits introduced as evidence in a lawsuit pitting the owner of Dale Earnhardt’s racing team and the insurance company that refused to pay when he died.

Superior Court Judge Kimberly Taylor lifted a previous court order that sealed exhibits introduced in the trial. The only exhibit that remained unavailable is an unedited copy of Earnhardt’s contract with Richard Childress Racing, which was replaced by a version with five of eight pages blacked out at the request of the plaintiffs.

The decision came in response to a motion seeking access to the exhibits filed by The Associated Press, The Charlotte Observer, NASCAR Scene and the North Carolina Press Association. Unsealed exhibits were expected to be available for review Thursday, clerk of court Brian Shipwash said.

Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt’s employer, was required to carry $7.2 million in insurance to cover the driver’s base salary, according to a portion of Earnhardt’s edited contract. That included $3.7 million with insurer United of Omaha, which RCR claims cheated widow Teresa Earnhardt out of the payment after Earnhardt’s death in a last-lap crash of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

I’m a little late with this post. The story of the lawsuit going forward broke last week and the documents were unsealed this week. Let me also state I’m not a lawyer, I operate on the “common sense doctrine,” and this fails to meet my criteria as being fair and just.

It has been widely reported Dale Sr. failed to complete requirements for this policy to be in effect. The deal was struck prior to Daytona Speed Weeks in 2001. Earnhardt was scheduled to complete the transaction by taking a required physical exam, an exam Earnhardt postponed until after the 500 that year. As we all know fate intervened and NASCAR lost one of it’s greatest emissaries.

If legal requirements are not met why should United of Omaha be required to pay anything? In addition, why should these records be unsealed, what public good comes of it? I also note two of those that requested the records be unsealed, Associated Press and the Charlotte Observer, were part of the list of ghouls that took legal means to make public Earnhardts autopsy report, including photos. Thankfully they lost that suit.

With luck this suit will be ruled in favor of United of Omaha. Not that I support them or their fellow thieves that reside within the insurance industry, but rules are rules, are rules. Tough luck, without a self imposed delay in taking the physical Earnhardt Sr. would have met the legal requirements and the claim would have been paid long ago.