Arnold v. Kelly
- Philip Halpern
- 7:24-cv-00783
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 9
In Arnold v. Kelly, Judge Halpern entered a protective order limiting disclosure and use of confidential discovery materials.
The parties, their representatives, agents, experts, consultants, third parties providing discovery, and other people with actual or constructive notice of the protective order are bound by its terms when they receive or access confidential discovery material.
What happened
In Arnold v. Kelly, the Southern District of New York found good cause for a protective order governing confidential information exchanged during discovery before trial.
The order permits confidential designations for specified information, including previously undisclosed financial, ownership, business, personal, or intimate information. It limits disclosure, requires non-disclosure agreements for certain recipients, restricts use to this case and related appeals, and establishes procedures for sealed filings, challenges to confidentiality designations, and inadvertently disclosed privileged material.
Judge Philip M. Halpern entered the protective order on June 20, 2025. The order applies to the parties and other people who receive or have notice of it, continues after the case ends, and allows the court to enforce it and impose contempt sanctions.
The detailed version
- Arnold v. Kelly · No. 7:24-cv-00783
- Philip Halpern
- June 20, 2025
Order and purpose
The court found good cause for a tailored confidentiality order covering the pretrial discovery phase of the action. The order governs “Discovery Material,” meaning information produced or disclosed during discovery, when that material is designated “Confidential.” A person subject to the order who violates it may face contempt of court.
What may be designated confidential
A producing party may designate only material that it reasonably and in good faith believes contains:
- Previously undisclosed financial information; - Previously undisclosed information about ownership or control of a non-public company; - Previously undisclosed business plans, product-development information, or marketing plans; - Personal or intimate information about an individual; or - Another category that the court later gives confidential status.
The producing party or its counsel must clearly mark confidential material and provide a version with the protected information redacted for future public use. Special procedures apply to deposition testimony and exhibits. During the 30 days after a deposition, the entire transcript must be treated as confidential; the producing party may then identify the specific pages or lines that remain confidential.
Disclosure and use restrictions
Confidential discovery material may be disclosed only to listed categories of people, including the parties, certain counsel and service providers, mediators or arbitrators, people identified in a document, potential witnesses, experts or specialized advisers, deposition stenographers, and the court. Certain recipients—such as mediators, witnesses, and experts—must first receive the order and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Recipients may use the confidential material only for prosecuting or defending this action and related appeals. They may not use it for business, commercial, competitive, or other litigation purposes. The order does not restrict a party’s rights concerning its own documents or information.
Sealing and challenges
A party seeking to file material under seal must simultaneously submit a letter brief and supporting declaration explaining, on a particularized basis, why continued sealing is justified. The court retains discretion over whether confidential treatment will be given to material submitted in connection with a motion or other proceeding. The order warns that the court is unlikely to seal material introduced as evidence at trial.
Parties filing confidential material must publicly file a redacted version and file the unredacted version under seal. A party may object to a confidentiality designation or request additional disclosure limits, such as an attorneys’-eyes-only restriction, by written notice stating the specific grounds. Unresolved disputes must be brought to the court under its individual practices.
Privilege and return of materials
The order provides that an inadvertent disclosure of attorney-client privileged or attorney work-product material does not waive the protection. After receiving a claim of inadvertent disclosure, the recipient generally must return or destroy the material within five business days and provide a certification. The producing party must then provide a privilege log, and the recipient may ask the court to order production. The producing party retains the burden of establishing that the material is privileged or protected.
Within 60 days after final disposition of the action, including appeals, recipients must return or—if the producing party permits—destroy confidential discovery material and certify that they kept no copies or other reproductions. Counsel specifically retained for the action may keep archival copies of specified case-related materials, but those copies remain subject to the order. The order survives the end of the litigation, and the court retains jurisdiction to enforce it and impose contempt sanctions.
Disposition
Judge Philip M. Halpern entered the protective order. The opinion is an ancillary discovery and confidentiality ruling; it does not decide the underlying claims or defenses.
Read the full 9-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.