Tevra Brands LLC v. Bayer HealthCare LLC

Background

Tevra moved under the court’s local rules for permission to file under seal portions of its brief opposing Defendants’ motion to dismiss the First Amended Complaint and related exhibits. The information had been designated “Confidential” or “Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” by Bayer HealthCare LLC. Bayer submitted a declaration stating that the material included sensitive business information concerning Bayer’s agreements, pricing arrangements with retailers, sales and product strategy, and competitive analysis.

Legal standard

The court explained that judicial records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. For records more than tangentially related to the merits of a case, a party seeking to seal them must show compelling reasons that outweigh public access. For records unrelated or only tangentially related to the merits, the lower “good cause” standard applies. That standard requires a particularized showing of specific harm from disclosure. The court also stated that sealing requests must be narrowly tailored and cannot rely only on a blanket protective order or confidentiality designation.

Ruling

The court found that some requests were supported because they concerned Bayer’s financial and business information, while others were overbroad or concerned information that appeared publicly available.

For Tevra’s opposition brief at ECF 132, the court:

- Granted sealing for highlighted portions on page 8, lines 6–10 and 12–27; page 9, lines 2–10, 12–14, and 16–18; and page 10, lines 1 and 5–6. - Denied sealing for highlighted portions on page 6, lines 17–18; page 7, lines 2–3, 5–7, and 9–16; page 9, lines 24–27; and page 13, lines 17–19. The court stated that these requests were overbroad and noted that some of the information had no objection to being filed publicly.

For Exhibits H through X at ECF 132-9 through 132-25, the court granted sealing for Exhibits H, I, and K through X. It denied sealing for Exhibit J because it appeared to contain publicly available information. The court stated that the remaining exhibits contained confidential information about Bayer’s retailer agreements and internal financial and business strategies.

The court granted in part and denied in part Tevra’s motion to seal at ECF 130 and directed Tevra to file its opposition brief and Exhibit J with partial redactions based on the court’s guidance.