SVB Financial Group v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Background

SVB Financial Group (SVBFG) filed an administrative motion asking the court to decide whether portions of another party’s material should remain under seal. The request concerned highlighted portions of SVBFG’s opposition to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in Its Corporate Capacity’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint.

SVBFG said that the highlighted material had been designated “highly confidential” by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as receiver for Silicon Valley Bank, under a protective order in SVBFG’s Chapter 11 proceedings.

Sealing standard

The court explained that court filings and their attachments that are more than tangentially related to the merits of a case may be sealed only for compelling reasons. Materials only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed for good cause. The court also explained that Civil Local Rule 79-5 requires supporting statements or declarations when a party seeks to seal material designated confidential by another party. Under that rule, the party that designated the material must file the required statement or declaration within the specified period.

Ruling

The deadline to file the required statement or declaration was October 20, 2024. As of the date of the order, no party had filed one concerning the materials that SVBFG had provisionally filed under seal. The court therefore denied SVBFG’s administrative motion. It ordered SVBFG to file an unsealed version of its opposition on the public docket within seven days of the order.

The order addressed the sealing request only; it did not decide the underlying motion to dismiss.