Newman v. Bayer Corp.
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:22-cv-07087
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Newman v. Bayer Corp., Judge Briccetti granted Bayer’s request to redact confidential business information from a filed memorandum.
Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare LLC received permission to redact specified confidential material from their memorandum; the order also limits public access to that material.
What happened
In Newman v. Bayer Corp., Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare LLC asked the court to allow redactions in a memorandum supporting their motion for partial summary judgment or, alternatively, decertification.
The requested redactions concerned excerpts from internal consumer surveys and confidential pricing information. Bayer argued that publicly disclosing the material could cause competitive harm, and stated that the related exhibits had already been sealed.
The court granted the request and ordered it. Judge Briccetti’s ruling addressed sealing and redactions; the opinion does not decide the underlying summary-judgment or class-certification issues.
The detailed version
- Newman v. Bayer Corp. · No. 7:22-cv-07087
- Vincent Briccetti
- Sept. 16, 2025
Background
Defendants Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare LLC asked for permission to redact portions of their memorandum supporting a motion for partial summary judgment or, alternatively, decertification. The request was made under the court’s individual rule concerning filings under seal.
Requested redactions
Bayer identified two categories of material for redaction:
1. Descriptions of and excerpts from the plaintiff’s Exhibits 5 through 12, which Bayer described as internal consumer surveys containing confidential business information and evaluations of consumer feedback. The opinion states that the court had already sealed those exhibits. 2. Excerpts from Bayer’s Exhibit D, which Bayer said revealed confidential pricing information. The opinion states that the court had already sealed that exhibit as well.
Bayer argued that the information qualified as confidential commercial information and that public disclosure could cause competitive harm. Bayer said it would file both a public version of the memorandum with redactions and a sealed, unredacted version showing the proposed redactions.
Ruling
The court granted the request. The order does not address the merits of Bayer’s motion for partial summary judgment, its alternative request for decertification, or the underlying claims.
Classification
This is a procedural order because it concerns sealing and redacting court filings rather than deciding the parties’ underlying legal dispute.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.