In re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation

Background

The parties filed two administrative motions to file documents under seal in connection with defendants’ motion to strike allegations from plaintiffs’ first amended complaint. The court considered Docket Nos. 155 and 162.

The documents concerned allegations based on the account of a former employee identified as FE-5. Because plaintiffs cited those allegations to support scienter—the requirement that a securities-fraud defendant acted with the required state of mind—the court applied the “compelling reasons” standard for sealing judicial records. That standard starts with a strong presumption that court records should be publicly accessible.

Requested redactions

Defendants sought to seal FE-5’s name in Exhibits A, B, D, and E attached to the McCormack Declaration supporting the motion to strike. Plaintiffs sought to seal FE-5’s name and contact information in Exhibits A and B attached to the Deming Declaration opposing the motion to strike, as well as portions of the Deming Declaration.

Both parties indicated that FE-5 had expressed concern about damage to his professional reputation or fear of retaliation. The court found that FE-5’s identifying information was not relevant to deciding the case and that important privacy concerns outweighed the public interest in disclosure. The court also found that the proposed redactions were narrowly tailored to seal only material that could properly be sealed.

Ruling

The court found that the parties had established compelling reasons to seal the limited portions of the documents and GRANTED both motions to file under seal. It directed the parties to file redacted versions of the documents on the public docket within seven days of the order. The order was signed by United States District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr.