A family financial dispute in 2013 between Tom Croci, now representing New York's 3rd State Senate District in Suffolk County, and his aunt Adele Smithers, a Long Island heiress and philanthropist, was kept from the public because of a Nassau Supreme Court judge's order that sealed the case file. A Newsday series examines whether Long Island's state judges have adhered to sealing rules that were established in part to protect the public's interest in open courts.