Klein v. Aicher
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:19-cv-09172
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Klein v. Aicher, Judge Abrams granted Klein’s request to seal medical-record exhibits because privacy interests outweighed public access.
Refael Klein’s medical privacy and the public’s access to the exhibits were affected; the Clerk of Court was directed to file the specified exhibits under seal.
What happened
Klein v. Aicher concerns exhibits containing information about Refael Klein’s medical records. Klein said the records showed that a representative of Catholic Health Services of Long Island accessed them more than 30 times without his consent.
Klein asked to keep Exhibit 1 to two declarations under seal while publicly filing redacted versions. He sought to redact the names of other providers and all access dates, while showing the instances involving Catholic Health Services of Long Island. The defendant did not oppose the request.
Judge Ronnie Abrams granted the request to seal Exhibit 1. She agreed that Klein’s interest in keeping his medical information private outweighed the presumption that court documents should be publicly accessible, and directed the Clerk to file the exhibits at docket entries 51 and 54 under seal.
The detailed version
- Klein v. Aicher · No. 1:19-cv-09172
- Ronnie Abrams
- May 6, 2020
Background
The order addresses Refael Klein’s request to seal Exhibit 1 attached to each of his declarations opposing the defendant’s motion for sanctions and motion to dismiss the complaint and/or for summary judgment. Klein alleged that the defendant, described in the filing as Senior Counsel at Catholic Health Services of Long Island, doing business as Catholic Health System of Long Island, unlawfully accessed his confidential medical records to disclose them to a third party for an advantage in a separate action.
Klein relied on a Healthix Patient Account Access Log for 2019. According to the filing, the log showed that one or more representatives of Catholic Health Services of Long Island accessed his medical records and other data more than 30 times without his consent, even though Klein had not received diagnosis or treatment from that organization during 2019 or at any other time. Klein had already filed redacted versions of the exhibits on the electronic docket. The defendant did not oppose sealing the unredacted versions.
Sealing Request
Klein’s request was limited. He asked that the public versions continue to show the instances in which Catholic Health Services of Long Island accessed his records, while redacting the names of other providers that accessed his records and all access dates. He argued that disclosure could reveal the types and extent of his medical treatment and cause personal and professional reputational harm.
The court applied the three-step standard from Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga: whether the material is a judicial document, the strength of the public-access presumption, and whether countervailing interests outweigh that presumption. The court noted that Klein did not dispute that Exhibit 1 was a judicial document or that it was relevant to resolving the action. The court nevertheless agreed that Klein’s privacy interest in his medical information outweighed the presumption of public access.
Ruling
Judge Ronnie Abrams granted Klein’s request to file Exhibit 1 under seal. The court directed the Clerk of Court to file Exhibit 1 at docket entries 51 and 54 under seal. The order did not decide the underlying claims, the motion for sanctions, or the motion to dismiss and/or for summary judgment.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.