Dale Earnhardt Autopsy Photos Lawsuit and the Law It Made

The lawsuit over Dale Earnhardt’s autopsy photos began four days after the driver’s death at the 2001 Daytona 500, when his widow Teresa Earnhardt sued the Volusia County medical examiner to keep the images out of public hands. The case settled within weeks, but its larger consequence was a Florida statute, passed in three weeks and signed the same day it cleared the legislature, that made autopsy photographs, video, and audio confidential across the state. Courts later upheld that law against First Amendment challenges, and it remains in force today.

Why Teresa Earnhardt Sued

Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, died on February 18, 2001, after his car struck the wall on the final lap of the Daytona 500. An autopsy the next day found he died of a basilar skull fracture.¹

Under Florida law at the time, autopsy photos were public records. On February 22, 2001, Teresa Earnhardt filed suit in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court against the Volusia County medical examiner, seeking to block release of the images. The court granted a temporary injunction the same day.²

Multiple news organizations moved to intervene. The Orlando Sentinel appeared on March 2, 2001, opposing the sealing as part of its investigation into NASCAR safety practices. The Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Tampa Tribune, and WFLA-TV also joined.³

How the Case Was Settled

After 20 hours of court-ordered mediation, Teresa Earnhardt and the Sentinel announced a settlement on March 16, 2001. The compromise: an independent expert in automotive biomechanics, chosen by former judge and mediator John J. Upchurch, would examine the photos and a videotape for roughly 30 minutes under court supervision, answer three specific questions about Earnhardt’s head injuries and cause of death, take no copies, and then the materials would be permanently sealed.³⁴

Dr. Barry Myers of Duke University conducted the review and released his report on April 9, 2001. He concluded the fatal fracture was caused by severe “head whip,” not the seatbelt failure NASCAR had initially blamed. Myers found the belt “does not appear to have played a role” in the fatal injury.⁵⁶ The finding pointed at the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device, which was available but not required by NASCAR and which Earnhardt had not been wearing.¹

The settlement resolved the immediate dispute but did not change the underlying public records law. Anyone not bound by the agreement could still ask a court for the photos.³

The Law the Lawsuit Produced

State Senator Jim King of Jacksonville and Representative Randy Johnson of Celebration sponsored legislation that moved through both chambers in three weeks. The Senate passed it unanimously. Governor Jeb Bush, who had received some 14,000 emails from Earnhardt fans, signed it into law on March 29, 2001, within six hours of final passage.⁷⁸

Codified as Section 406.135 of the Florida Statutes and known as the Earnhardt Family Protection Act, the law made autopsy photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings confidential and exempt from public records disclosure. Written autopsy reports remained public. Access to the visual and audio materials was limited to surviving family members, government agencies acting in an official capacity, and anyone who could persuade a court there was “good cause” for disclosure. In weighing good cause, courts must consider whether disclosure is necessary for public evaluation of government performance, the severity of the intrusion into family privacy, and whether similar information is available in other public records.⁹

The law was retroactive, applying to records that already existed and to pending requests. Unauthorized disclosure became a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.⁹⁸ A compromise amendment from the Florida First Amendment Foundation and Senator Locke Burt, which would have allowed viewing without copying unless a judge approved, never reached a floor vote.⁷

The Court Challenges That Tested the Law

The most persistent challenge came from the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper at the University of Florida, published by Campus Communications Inc. Circuit Judge Joseph Will ruled in April 2001 that the Alligator was not bound by the Sentinel’s settlement, clearing the way for a direct attack on the new statute.¹⁰

Attorney Tom Julin argued the law violated the First Amendment by forcing courts to make subjective judgments about a requester’s intentions before releasing public records. He said the photos were needed to verify whether NASCAR had been truthful about the cause of death and whether safety equipment could have saved Earnhardt.¹¹¹² He also argued the statute could not be applied retroactively.¹⁰ Jon Mills, representing Teresa Earnhardt, called the photos “grotesque” and said the family’s privacy outweighed any public interest.

On June 13, 2001, Judge Will ruled against the newspaper. He described the potential harm to the family as “unspeakable” and said release would be “a serious invasion of the highest degree.”¹³¹⁴

On July 12, 2002, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed. The court held the statute served an “identifiable public purpose” by protecting families from the “trauma, sorrow, humiliation, or emotional injury” of graphic autopsy images, and noted that the rise of the internet and the risk of “widespread unauthorized dissemination” reinforced the legislature’s rationale. On retroactivity, the court found the law “remedial in nature” because it addressed a procedure for accessing records rather than substantive rights. The court also found the Alligator had not shown good cause, since the written autopsy report already provided the core public information.¹⁵

The Florida Supreme Court declined to take the case in July 2003, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear it on December 1, 2003, ending the challenge.¹²¹⁶¹⁷

How the Law Is Used Today

Section 406.135 has been invoked repeatedly in high-profile Florida cases. In 2010, the family of Dawn Brancheau, the SeaWorld trainer killed by an orca, used the same lawyer who had represented Teresa Earnhardt to block release of video showing her death.¹⁸ In 2022, after actor Bob Saget died in an Orlando hotel, his widow and children sued under the statute to block release of autopsy and crime scene records, and a circuit judge granted a temporary injunction.¹⁹ The law was also used in 2021 to shield photographs of two children murdered by their father in Dixie County.²⁰ South Carolina passed its own ban on autopsy photo release after Earnhardt’s death.²¹

Press-freedom advocates continue to argue the statute goes too far. The First Amendment Foundation has called it “bad public policy” for insulating government agencies from scrutiny and forcing requesters into court with no guarantee of success. Critics have pointed to the 2006 death of Martin Lee Anderson, a teenager who died in a Florida boot camp, where withheld video was eventually needed to secure criminal charges.²²

The statute is subject to Florida’s Open Government Sunset Review Act and is scheduled for repeal on October 2, 2029, unless the legislature reenacts it.⁹

The safety question that drove the Sentinel’s original investigation was resolved without public release of the photos. Dr. Myers’s finding that a head-and-neck restraint could have prevented Earnhardt’s death contributed to NASCAR mandating the HANS device, and no driver has died in the Cup Series since.²⁰

1
Sologic. Dale Earnhardt Fatality
2
Florida Supreme Court. Campus Communications Inc. v. Earnhardt, SC02-1635 – Initial Brief
3
Orlando Sentinel. Autopsy Photo Deal OKd
4
CNN. Earnhardt Autopsy Photo Dispute Settled
5
New York Times. Earnhardt’s Death Not Linked to Seat Belt
6
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Expert’s Report: Earnhardt Died of Head Whip
7
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Earnhardt Law Reverses Access to Autopsy Photos
8
The Ledger. Newspapers File Lawsuit Over Autopsy Photo Law
9
Florida Senate. Section 406.135, Florida Statutes
10
Orlando Sentinel. Paper Can Fight Photo Law
11
Student Press Law Center. Fla. College Paper Appeals Earnhardt Autopsy Photo Case to Supreme Court
12
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Newspaper Takes Case to Justices
13
New York Times. Judge Rules for Earnhardts Widow
14
Student Press Law Center. Student Newspaper Loses Battle for Access to Autopsy Photos
15
FindLaw. Campus Communications Inc. v. Earnhardt, 821 So. 2d 388
16
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. High Court Declines to Hear Autopsy Appeal
17
UPI. Court Rejects Earnhardt Photos Case
18
Teach Privacy. SeaWorld Killer Whale Death Video and the Right to Privacy
19
WESH. Bob Saget Family Cites Dale Earnhardt Law to Block Records Release
20
Florida Politics. Bob Saget Autopsy Photos Case Echoes Dale Earnhardts
21
First Amendment Encyclopedia – MTSU. Autopsies and Treatment of the Dead
22
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Expanding Personal Privacy