The Cobb Electric Membership Cooperative must make public a 300-page deposition of chief executive Dwight Brown, a Cobb County judge ruled Friday.

But the public will have to wait 20 days to see the document, in which Brown testified about his compensation from Cobb Energy, a for-profit management company that operates the nonprofit co-op. The delay will allow Cobb Energy to appeal the ruling.

The deposition of Brown, who is president of both the co-op and Cobb Energy, also disclosed details of his stock ownership in the company.

Cobb Energy had asked the court to put those portions of the deposition under seal.

Senior Judge Michael Stoddard agreed to Cobb Energy's request to keep a list of its stockholders and other financial documents confidential.

The judge's order came after an emergency hearing —- and what one attorney called a "day of melodrama" —- in an ongoing customer lawsuit against Cobb EMC, Cobb Energy and Brown.

The suit alleges that Brown and others were unjustly enriched by Cobb Energy's relationship with the Marietta-based co-op. As a result of the arrangement, a lawyer for the customers said this week, Brown's combined compensation from both companies has climbed from $250,000 to $1.5 million a year.

Stoddard called Friday's emergency hearing after learning that Cobb Energy had already given the information it wanted to keep private to the publisher of the Marietta Daily Journal.

Sam Kelly, Cobb Energy's vice president of public relations, e-mailed Brown's full deposition to publisher Otis Brumby on April 1, two weeks after Cobb Energy asked the court to seal portions of it.

Because of that disclosure, Stoddard ruled Cobb Energy had waived any right to keep the document under wraps. Stoddard is handling discovery issues in the case.

Cobb Energy lawyer Rich Merritt argued that the release had been "inadvertent," saying Kelly hadn't known about the confidentiality petition.

Stoddard rejected the accidental release claim.

"Inadvertent means you hit the send button when you meant to hit delete," he said.