Girl Scouts of the United States of America v. Boy Scouts of America

Background

The Boy Scouts of America asked the court for permission to seal or redact materials that the organization described as proprietary, commercially sensitive, confidential, or trade-secret information. The materials had been filed in connection with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America’s opposition to the Boy Scouts’ motion for summary judgment and motions to exclude expert opinions. The Girl Scouts did not object to the requested sealing and redactions.

Materials at Issue

The Boy Scouts stated that it sought to seal or narrowly redact 42 of more than 290 documents submitted by the Girl Scouts. Twenty-two documents contained personally identifiable information about nonparties, including names, addresses, and email addresses of individuals, including children. The remaining documents allegedly contained confidential market surveys and analysis, marketing strategies, advertising expenditures, communications-strategy analysis, executive meeting minutes, membership and revenue projections, and other business-strategy information.

The request also covered highlighted portions of the Girl Scouts’ opposition to summary judgment, response to the Boy Scouts’ statement of facts, and opposition to a motion concerning the report, testimony, and opinions of Lauren R. Kindler.

Legal Standard

The submission explained that sealing or redacting a court filing must be narrowly tailored and must be consistent with the presumption that judicial documents are publicly accessible. It argued that confidential business information may be protected when disclosure could harm a party’s competitive position.

Ruling

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein signed the submission “So ordered” on January 8, 2021. Based on the provided text, the court so-ordered the request submitted by the Boy Scouts. The text does not contain a separate ruling specifying whether each listed document was sealed, redacted, or otherwise treated differently.