Baird v. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A.

Background

The plaintiffs filed an administrative motion to file portions of their trial brief under seal. The defendants submitted declarations from BlackRock executives stating that some statements in the brief described confidential information concerning BlackRock’s fiduciary committees, including internal deliberations, meeting materials, governing documents, and communications with current and potential service providers.

Legal standard

The court explained that judicial records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. Because the trial brief was more than tangentially related to the underlying cause of action, the court applied the “compelling reasons” standard. Under that standard, the party seeking secrecy must identify specific reasons that outweigh the public interest in access. The request must also be narrowly tailored to cover only material entitled to protection.

Ruling

The court found a compelling interest in sealing statements containing confidential business and financial information related to BlackRock’s operations. It therefore granted the motion as to statements on pages 1:17–1:20, 2:27–3:2, 3:9–12, and 4:11–13 of the plaintiffs’ trial brief.

The court found that the parties had not provided compelling reasons to seal statements on pages 1:8–9, 1:21, 2:25–26, 4:28–5:3, and 5:12–13. It denied the motion as to those statements. The court granted in part and denied in part the administrative motion to file under seal and directed the plaintiffs to file a public version of the trial brief with redactions consistent with the order within seven days.