Castillo v. Albert Einstein College of Medicine Inc.
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:24-cv-00984
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Castillo v. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Judge Engelmayer granted Castillo’s request to seal identifying information about nonparty employees in a declaration.
The ruling permitted the plaintiff to protect identifying information about employees who were not parties to the action, while allowing a redacted version of the declaration to be publicly filed.
What happened
In Castillo et al. v. Albert Einstein College of Medicine Inc. et al., the plaintiff asked to file a declaration supporting a request for conditional certification with identifying information about other affected employees.
The plaintiff asked to file a redacted version publicly and an unredacted version under seal. The request said the employees had not publicly joined the lawsuit and that sealing their identifying information was narrowly limited to protecting their privacy.
Judge Engelmayer granted the request, finding it narrowly tailored to protect the privacy interests of people who were not parties to the case. The order did not decide the conditional-certification request or the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Castillo v. Albert Einstein College of Medicine Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-00984
- Paul Engelmayer
- Nov. 19, 2025
Background
Plaintiff Rinaldys Castillo submitted a request concerning a declaration filed in support of a motion for conditional certification. The request stated that the declaration identified other potentially affected employees who had not publicly joined the lawsuit.
Request
Castillo asked the court to allow a redacted version of the declaration to be publicly filed and an unredacted version to be filed under seal. The request relied on the presumption of public access to court documents, the rule allowing a court to require filing documents under seal for good cause, and privacy interests that may justify limiting disclosure. The request stated that the proposed sealing was limited to identifying information about individuals affected by the lawsuit.
Ruling
The court granted the request. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer stated that the request was narrowly tailored to protect the privacy interests of nonparties to the action. The order did not address the merits of the conditional-certification motion or the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.