Ross v. Abbott Vascular Inc.

Background

Abbott Ireland Ltd. filed administrative motions asking the court to file certain materials under seal. The materials were submitted in connection with the parties’ joint letter brief about jurisdictional discovery and a joint chart reflecting disputes concerning that discovery. Abbott Ireland stated that the plaintiffs did not oppose the motions.

Legal standard

The court described a strong presumption that the public may inspect and copy judicial records. For records connected more than tangentially to the merits of a case, a party generally must show compelling reasons for secrecy. For records that are unrelated or only tangentially related to the merits, the court applies the lower good-cause standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The court determined that the good-cause standard applied because the materials were submitted in connection with discovery rather than a motion concerning the case’s merits.

Ruling

The court granted both motions. It approved sealing specified excerpts from Exhibit 2 to the joint letter brief regarding jurisdictional discovery, including excerpts on pages 7, 10–11, 13, 18–19, and 21 of Abbott Ireland’s supplemental response to the plaintiffs’ interrogatories concerning personal jurisdiction. It also approved sealing specified excerpts from the joint chart reflecting jurisdictional discovery disputes, including excerpts on pages 12, 22, 25–30, and 33–36, as identified in the motion’s exhibit.

The court found the requests narrowly tailored to protect confidential, proprietary business information concerning Abbott Ireland Ltd., Abbott Ireland (Bermuda), and their vendors. It also found good cause to believe that public disclosure could harm those entities. The order was signed by Susan Van Keulen, United States Magistrate Judge.