Giuffre v. Maxwell
- Loretta Preska
- 1:15-cv-07433
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Giuffre v. Maxwell, Judge Preska ordered preparation to unseal deposition transcripts and related materials, with limited redactions protecting nonparties and personal information.
The parties, the individuals whose depositions and related information would be unsealed, and nonparties whose identities or personal information could appear in the materials.
What happened
In Giuffre v. Maxwell, the Court of Appeals had affirmed an earlier order by the district court. The dispute concerned whether certain deposition transcripts and related materials should be made public.
The court ordered the parties to prepare to unseal Ms. Maxwell’s and Doe 1’s deposition transcripts, along with materials that quote or reveal information from those transcripts. The documents could have limited redactions for personal identifying information, nonparties’ names and identifying family information, and descriptions that could reveal a nonparty’s identity.
Judge Loretta A. Preska said the redactions should be as limited as workable and directed the parties to follow the court’s earlier procedures for unsealing. The order did not state that the documents were unsealed immediately.
The detailed version
- Giuffre v. Maxwell · No. 1:15-cv-07433
- Loretta Preska
- Oct. 20, 2020
Background
The Court of Appeals had issued a mandate affirming the district court’s July 23, 2020 order. In light of that mandate, the district court addressed the process for making certain sealed materials public.
Court’s Order
The court directed the parties to prepare, as soon as practicable, for the unsealing of:
- the deposition transcripts of Ms. Maxwell and Doe 1; and - all materials that quote those transcripts or disclose information from them.
The court directed that the documents be unsealed under the procedures set out in its July 28, 2020 order. It authorized minimal redactions for personally identifying information; the names of nonparties and information about nonparties’ families that could identify them; and descriptions of nonparty conduct that would allow readers to determine a nonparty’s identity.
Ruling
Judge Loretta A. Preska emphasized that the redactions should be limited to what was workable. The order directed preparation for unsealing but did not state that the documents were unsealed on October 20, 2020.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.