United States v. Community Options Inc.
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:20-cv-04684
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In United States v. Community Options Inc., Judge Caproni partly granted a request about sealed settlement documents and ordered corrected redactions.
The State of New York, the United States, the defendants, the relator, and the public court docket were affected by the sealing, unsealing, and redaction orders.
What happened
United States v. Community Options Inc. involved a request by New York and the United States to replace docketed settlement documents with versions redacting Medicaid beneficiary numbers, which are protected health information.
The court kept the settlement-and-dismissal documents at Docket 19 and Docket 21 under seal, but ordered the Clerk to unseal the settlement-and-release document at Docket 20. The court also required New York to file a revised version of its proposed redactions to Docket 21 by April 8, 2025, because some redactions appeared to have been placed in the wrong column.
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the application in part and issued these sealing, unsealing, and filing instructions.
The detailed version
- United States v. Community Options Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-04684
- Valerie Caproni
- Apr. 7, 2025
Background
The Office of the New York State Attorney General, representing New York, asked the court to replace docketed versions of two settlement stipulations with versions containing limited redactions. The proposed redactions covered Medicaid beneficiary numbers in an exhibit, which the request identified as protected health information. The letter stated that the matter had been settled and partially dismissed and unsealed as of March 26, 2025.
Court’s ruling
The court stated: “Application GRANTED IN PART.” It ordered that the Stipulations and Orders of Settlement and Dismissal at Dockets 19 and 21 remain under seal. It directed the Clerk of Court to unseal the Stipulation and Order of Settlement and Release at Docket 20.
The court also required the State of New York to file, by Tuesday, April 8, 2025, a revised version of the proposed redactions to the Stipulation and Order of Settlement and Dismissal at Docket 21. The court said the redactions proposed at Docket 28-2, page 28, appeared to have been applied unintentionally to entries in the Service Date column.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.