Koonce v. Sazerac Company, Inc.

Background

Plaintiff Koonce sought permission to redact highlighted portions of her motion for class certification and to file those portions and supporting exhibits under seal. The request concerned discovery materials used from a related action involving Sazerac’s Southern Comfort Malt products. The opinion states that the parties agreed discovery from that action could be used in Koonce’s case.

Circana and Sazerac had designated the materials as confidential under a protective order entered in the related action. The protective order covered certain previously undisclosed financial information, ownership information, business plans, product-development information, marketing plans, and personal or intimate information. It required confidential discovery materials filed with the court, and filings that disclosed them, to be filed under seal while also requiring a publicly filed redacted copy.

Basis for the Request

Circana stated that its data and reports were proprietary, commercially valuable products created from data gathered, compiled, and analyzed at substantial expense. Circana also stated that it had licensed data to plaintiff’s counsel for $5,000 and was charging $3,800 for additional updated data. According to the letter, public disclosure could cause loss of licensing revenue and other harm to Circana’s business.

The request cited the court’s practice rules and the requirement to balance the public’s interest in access to judicial documents against the privacy and confidentiality interests opposing disclosure. The provided text does not contain a separate discussion by Judge Karas of that balancing analysis.

Ruling

The court’s endorsement states: “Granted.” Thus, the court granted Koonce’s request to redact and file the identified materials under seal. The provided text does not specify the exact documents or portions covered by the grant, and it does not state that the sealing was permanent or otherwise describe additional conditions.