Macalou v. First Unum Life Ins. Co.
- P. Castel
- 1:22-cv-10439
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Macalou v. First Unum Life Ins. Co., Judge Castel received counsel’s request to seal a withdrawal motion; no ruling appears.
Anticia Macalou and Hiller, PC, whose attorney-client dispute would be discussed in the proposed motion to withdraw; the public’s access to that filing would also be affected if sealing were granted.
What happened
In Macalou v. First Unum Life Ins. Co., Hiller, PC asked the court to seal a motion seeking permission to withdraw as Anticia Macalou’s attorneys. The letter says the motion would discuss a dispute between Macalou and her former attorneys.
Hiller, PC argued that sealing would protect the confidentiality of the attorney-client relationship and accommodate Macalou’s prior requests to keep related information private. It relied on the federal courts’ standards for sealing judicial documents.
The letter is addressed to Judge P. Kevin Castel, but the provided text does not contain a ruling on the request. It therefore does not show whether Judge Castel granted or denied the sealing request.
The detailed version
- Macalou v. First Unum Life Ins. Co. · No. 1:22-cv-10439
- P. Castel
- Nov. 5, 2025
Nature of the filing
The provided document is a letter motion from Hiller, PC, which represented Anticia Macalou in an enforcement action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Hiller, PC asked Judge P. Kevin Castel to allow a motion seeking withdrawal as Macalou’s attorneys to be filed under seal.
Arguments for sealing
Hiller, PC relied on the three-part standard for sealing documents described in Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga. That standard considers whether the material is a judicial document, the strength of the public-access presumption, and countervailing interests such as privacy.
Hiller, PC argued that sealing was appropriate because the motion to withdraw would refer to the reasons for a dispute between the attorneys and Macalou. It asserted that sealing was needed to protect the confidentiality of the attorney-client relationship and to protect Macalou from possible prejudice in future actions. The letter also stated that Macalou had previously asked that information about her relationship with Hiller, PC remain sealed.
Disposition
The document requests an order granting the letter motion and allowing the motion to withdraw to be filed under seal. The provided text does not include an order or otherwise state that Judge Castel granted, denied, or ruled on the request.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.