Ashton Woods Holdings L.L.C. v. USG Corporation

Background

Plaintiffs filed a renewed motion to seal limited portions of two exhibits connected to defendants’ request for permission to seek reconsideration of a multidistrict litigation court’s summary-judgment ruling on choice of law. Plaintiffs had previously sought to seal entire briefs and three exhibits, but the court denied that request because it was not narrowly limited to material referring directly to confidential and proprietary business information.

Legal standard

The court applied the “compelling reasons” standard because the documents related to a motion to reconsider a summary-judgment ruling. Under that standard, there is a strong presumption that judicial records should be publicly accessible. A party seeking sealing must identify specific reasons that outweigh the public’s interest in access and must make a particularized showing of specific harm or prejudice. Broad, unsupported claims of harm are not enough.

Court’s analysis

The court found that the renewed request was narrowly tailored. In defendants’ opening summary-judgment brief, plaintiffs sought to seal one image describing how plaintiffs purchased wallboard, including through which entities and where. The court found that publicly releasing this information could give non-party competitors an unfair advantage.

In plaintiffs’ opposition brief, plaintiffs sought to seal two phone numbers associated with defendants’ employees. The court found compelling reasons to protect this potentially sensitive identifying information.

Ruling

The court granted plaintiffs’ renewed motion to file limited portions of the exhibits under seal. It directed plaintiffs to file redacted versions of the documents on the public docket within seven days of the order.