Berkley Assurance Company v. Hunt Construction Group, Inc.

Background

Berkley Assurance Company filed a letter motion asking permission to submit Exhibit T under seal as an exhibit to John G. O’Neill’s reply declaration supporting Berkley’s motion for summary judgment. Exhibit T consists of email correspondence between Berkley and Hunt Construction Group, Inc., dated June 7, 2018, through March 19, 2019.

The document was produced or generated during discovery and had been designated confidential by one of the parties. Berkley stated that the document appeared to contain private business communications or information, including financial information. Berkley acknowledged that a confidentiality agreement between litigants, by itself, is not enough to justify sealing a judicial document.

Parties’ Positions

Berkley argued that the parties’ and nonparties’ privacy interests in preventing public disclosure of private business figures and communications, together with the parties’ confidentiality order, supported sealing Exhibit T. Berkley said Hunt had produced and designated the document as confidential and requested time for Hunt to make its own submission about whether sealing was necessary.

Ruling

Judge Jesse M. Furman temporarily granted the motion to seal. The court stated that it would assess whether the material should remain sealed or instead be redacted when deciding the underlying summary-judgment motion. The court directed Hunt to file any letter addressing the need for sealing by December 20, 2019, and directed the Clerk of Court to terminate ECF No. 86. The order did not decide the underlying summary-judgment motion.