WEEKS MARINE, INC.

Background

The provided document is a letter motion by Tappan Zee Constructors LLC ("TZC") asking the court to issue a protective order requiring Weeks Marine Inc. ("Weeks") to file certain documents under seal. The documents were marked confidential under a June 27, 2017 confidentiality stipulation and order. Weeks intended to use them as exhibits to a sanctions motion.

TZC said the documents included personal data, proprietary information about scheduling, costs, and methods used to build the bridge, and information designated as Sensitive Security Information. TZC identified examples including work and progress meeting notes, schedule updates, delay and cost analyses, correspondence with the New York State Thruway Authority, and photographs of bridge sections. TZC said Weeks refused to consent to filing the documents under seal.

Legal standard described in the filing

The filing explains that court documents may be subject to a common-law and First Amendment right of public access. Under the common-law framework described, the court first determines whether the materials are judicial documents—documents relevant to the court’s judicial function and useful in the judicial process. If they are, the court weighs the strength of the public-access presumption and then balances it against competing interests, including privacy and the risk of harm from disclosure.

The filing further states that documents subject to a qualified First Amendment right of access may be sealed only when specific findings show that sealing is essential to protect an important interest and is narrowly tailored to that interest. It cites trade secrets and confidential commercial information as examples of interests that may justify sealing.

TZC’s application of the standard

TZC argued that the documents qualify as judicial documents because Weeks planned to submit them in support of a sanctions motion. TZC also argued that its proprietary commercial information and Sensitive Security Information outweighed the public-access interests. According to TZC, disclosure could harm its competitive position by revealing its bridge-construction costs, schedules, and methods.

TZC requested an order requiring Weeks to file all unredacted versions of the identified documents under seal. It also asked for an opportunity to submit a supplemental declaration if the court required more specific explanations for individual documents.

Disposition

The supplied text does not contain a clearly readable ruling. It includes Judge Kenneth M. Karas’s signature and what appears to be a partially illegible “So Ordered” notation, but it does not clearly say that the motion was granted, denied, or otherwise resolved. The court’s actual disposition therefore cannot be determined from the text provided.