Tevra Brands LLC v. Bayer HealthCare LLC

Background

Bayer filed an administrative motion to seal selected portions of the court’s recent order granting in part and denying in part a motion for summary judgment. The requested material appeared in portions of ECF No. 322 identified by page and line numbers.

Bayer stated that the highlighted material contained highly confidential business information concerning pricing arrangements, sales and product strategy, retailer agreements, and customers. Bayer represented that the information was not publicly known and that its confidentiality was strictly maintained. Bayer argued that disclosure could allow competitors and business counterparts to adjust their own strategies.

Legal standard

The court explained that judicial records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. For records more than tangentially related to the underlying claims, a party seeking to seal them must show compelling reasons that outweigh the public’s interest in access. The court also noted that a lower good-cause standard applies to records only tangentially related to the merits, but that standard requires a particularized showing of specific prejudice or harm.

Ruling

The court found compelling reasons to seal the highlighted portions. It determined that the material contained confidential internal financial and business strategies, pricing information, competitively sensitive details about Bayer’s retailer agreements, and information about the identities of customers with whom Bayer contracts. The court therefore granted Bayer’s administrative motion to seal.