Rollins lawyers seek to keep eyes off trusts
The warring Rollinses who've gone to court over two trusts agree on this much: They want to keep those trusts, and the information they contain, private.
Lawyers for the four Rollins children suing, and for their father and uncle, filed a joint motion this week to have the complaint remain permanently under seal as the case progresses.
The motion comes as a temporary, 30-day request expired on Wednesday. It is not clear when the judge hearing the case will rule.
"We believe this is a family matter and neither side saw any benefit to unsealing this," said Tony Wilbert, a spokesman for Gary W. Rollins and his brother, R. Randall Rollins.
On Aug. 23, Gary Rollins' four children filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court against him and their uncle to obtain information related to those trusts and how they have been managed.
Gary and R. Randall are chief executive and chairman, respectively, of Atlanta-based pest control giant Rollins Inc. A third person, Henry B. Tippie, who sits on the Rollins board of directors with the two brothers, also is named. All three oversee those trusts. Gary's son Glen is on the board, too, and until the filing of the lawsuit was executive vice president and leader of Rollins' most recognized brand, Orkin pest control.
Requests to seal information related to trusts are not unusual, said Joseph Astrachan, executive director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business and a nationally known expert on issues affecting family-run businesses. Because they involve millions of dollars and other assets, litigants want to keep that information shielded from public scrutiny, he said.
In the original filing, Mickey Mixson, the children's lawyer, wrote that "the potential harm and embarrassment resulting from the disclosure of the confidential and sensitive financial information and documents outweighs the public interest in this Complaint. Further, some of the trust instruments and family financial structures may be subject to confidentiality agreements between the parties."
