Judge seals filings in Eddy Arnold paternity case

Over objection of late singer's alleged illegitimate son, court says Arnold's reputation deserves to be protected -- at least until case is decided

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

Eddy Arnold

As though obeying the command of Eddy Arnold's signature hit song from 1965, a Davidson County judge yesterday decided to "Make the World Go Away" from legal proceedings brought by a 48-year-old man who claims the late country crooner was his father.

Probate Judge Randy Kennedy granted a motion by the estate of Arnold, who died last year at the age of 89, to seal all pleadings and exhibits filed from now on regarding the paternity claim of Christopher Edward Tanner, 48, of Anaheim, Calif. He asserts that Arnold fathered him during an affair with his mother, who was working as a secretary at a record company at the time.

Tanner's mother, Arlene Tanner-Glynn, has said publicly since the early 1990s that Arnold was the father of her child. She says he never denied being the father and that she unsuccessfully asked him to submit to paternity testing. Arnold's heirs say he told family members the parentage claim was not accurate.

Kennedy ruled in favor of the Arnold estate, represented by Marlene Eskind Moses of Nashville's Moses & Townsend firm, over the objections of attorney Brock East from the Murfreesboro firm Kious & Rodgers, who represents Tanner. Both attorneys indicated that copies of letters from Tanner or his mother to Arnold and his lawyers are likely to be filed as exhibits in the case.

Moses cited case law to support her motion, including a 2008 decision of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in a case involving records from the fatal 2003 fire at a National Healthcare Corp. nursing home in Nashville. The appellate judges upheld a lower court that denied a request from The Tennessean to lift a order restricting public access to some case evidence.

Moses argued that her client was more entitled to have its case sealed than the nursing home company had been, because the Arnold case “involves private litigants” and lacks the public-interest significance of the NHC fire litigation. She said she would not be able to put forward her case "properly" if doing so would entail airing allegations "injurious to the reputation" of the late performer.

East countered that Tanner “feels like his story has been squashed” for many years as Arnold refused to acknowledge him. “The rules should not be changed just because Mr. Arnold was a celebrity,” he argued.

Judge Kennedy issued his decision at the end of the brief hearing. “If Mr. Tanner’s claim is ultimately unsuccessful," he said, "then Mr. Arnold is an individual, regardless of his public stature, who deserves to have his name untainted” by further assertions regarding his life. “The family is entitled to seek protection,” Kennedy said as he ordered future case filings and exhibits sealed.

The judge added, however, that he was not imposing a gag order on the attorneys, and he said he would consider lifting the seal if Tanner prevails.

Tennessee judges have broad discretion to impose such restrictions on public access. But Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, yesterday said jurists have sometimes kept the public in the dark as they exercised that power.

"The NHC ruling was a bad precedent," Gibson said, "and the recent decision by the state Court of Appeals upholding it made it worse. There are still questions about the nursing home fire that aren't answered because the records are secret.

"The U.S. Supreme Court and our state Supreme Court have recognized that open courts are necessary to preserve credibility and public trust in our judicial system," Gibson added. "The public needs to be concerned anytime there's an effort to close any part of the process that doesn't consider and balance the public interest in open courts."