Accenture LLP v. Trautman
- Lewis Liman
- 1:21-cv-02409
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Accenture v. Trautman, Judge Liman ordered which exhibits would be public, sealed, or publicly filed with redactions.
Accenture LLP, Stephanie Neal Trautman, Wipro, and the public docket were affected by the court’s sealing, de-designation, redaction, and re-filing instructions.
What happened
Accenture LLP v. Trautman concerned whether certain documents and exhibits should remain confidential or under seal. The order also refers to submissions by Wipro, although it does not explain Wipro’s role in the case.
Judge Liman ordered documents that Wipro agreed could be public to be de-designated and filed publicly. He also ordered several other exhibits to be filed publicly, allowed some exhibits to remain sealed, and approved public filing of additional exhibits with specified redactions.
The court did not approve the requested redactions to PX 16 and RX 27, ordered those documents filed publicly, directed the parties to re-file public versions of declarations containing the exhibits, and closed three docket entries. The order was issued by Judge Lewis J. Liman.
The detailed version
- Accenture LLP v. Trautman · No. 1:21-cv-02409
- Lewis Liman
- May 18, 2021
Issue and standard
The court considered the parties’ submissions about removing confidential designations from certain documents and keeping other documents under seal. It applied the standards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit described in Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga.
Documents involving Wipro
The court ordered documents that Wipro consented to having filed publicly to be de-designated as confidential and filed on the public docket.
For documents Wipro sought to keep under seal, the court ordered PX 15, PX 19, PX 30, PX 38, Wipro Ex. 12, and Wipro Ex. 24 filed publicly without the requested seal. The court ordered PX 32, PX 35, PX 36, PX 37, and PX 41 filed publicly with these redactions:
- PX 32: the last two emails in the chain must be redacted. - PX 35: the email from Stephanie Trautman dated March 3, 2021, at 2:20 a.m., through the bottom of the document must be redacted. - PX 36: everything except the top email and bottom email in the chain must be redacted. - PX 37: the third paragraph of the email must be redacted. - PX 41: the “Deal Qualification” slide deck and everything that follows must be redacted.
Documents involving Accenture
For documents Accenture sought to keep under seal, the court allowed PX 58, PX 60, RX 1, RX 2, RX 11, RX 14, and RX 28 to remain under seal. It ordered RX 6, RX 9, and RX B filed publicly without the requested seal.
The court ordered PX 57, PX 59, RX 4, RX 8, and RX 29 filed publicly with these redactions:
- PX 57: the proposed redactions were approved. - PX 59: the proposed redactions were approved except that the first bullet under “good points made” must not be redacted; in the first two bullets under “some more thoughts,” only the numbers may be redacted, except numbers identifying quarters and years, which must remain public; and the proposed redactions to the sub-bullets beneath the second bullet under “some more thoughts” were approved. - RX 4: the entire slide deck may be redacted. - RX 8: everything except the top two emails in the chain must be redacted. - RX 29: the categories listed in the bullets may be redacted, but the rest of the email must remain public.
The court did not approve the redactions sought by Respondent for PX 16 and RX 27 and ordered those documents filed publicly.
Additional directions and disposition
The determinations were made without prejudice to further confidentiality de-designations after closing arguments. The parties were directed to re-file public versions of declarations containing the affected exhibits. The Clerk of Court was directed to close Dkt. Nos. 57, 74, and 83. The order did not decide the underlying merits of the dispute between the parties.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.