Capri Sun GmbH v. American Beverage Corporation
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:19-cv-01422
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Capri Sun v. American Beverage, Judge Engelmayer granted Capri Sun’s motion to seal or redact filings containing commercially sensitive information.
Capri Sun GmbH and American Beverage Corporation, whose litigation filings and related deposition and expert materials were subject to the requested sealing or redaction; the order also limited public access to the specified materials.
What happened
Capri Sun GmbH asked the court to seal or redact documents filed with its opposition to American Beverage Corporation’s summary-judgment motion and expert-evidence motion.
The requested protections covered business and marketing strategies, sensitive business agreements and negotiations, nonpublic financial information, and related deposition transcripts and expert materials.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted Capri Sun’s motion, but the opinion text does not include the attached lists identifying each document or redaction.
The detailed version
- Capri Sun GmbH v. American Beverage Corporation · No. 1:19-cv-01422
- Paul Engelmayer
- July 6, 2021
Background
Capri Sun GmbH filed a letter motion asking the court to seal certain documents and to allow redactions in other documents. The materials supported Capri Sun’s oppositions to American Beverage Corporation’s motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 and to ABC’s motion to partially exclude expert testimony. The letter stated that the court had previously allowed the parties to submit related summary-judgment and expert-motion papers under seal or with redactions.
Requested protection
Capri Sun identified four categories of information for sealing or redaction:
- Confidential business and marketing strategy materials, including communications about existing and new products, customers, and competitive analysis.
- Sensitive agreements with business counterparties and information about negotiations.
- Highly confidential, nonpublic financial information and analysis.
- Deposition-transcript excerpts and expert reports containing information from the first three categories.
Capri Sun stated that some expert reports and expert deposition transcripts could be redacted, but that fact-witness deposition transcripts were so thoroughly filled with commercially sensitive information that redaction would be impractical. It therefore requested that those transcripts remain under seal.
Ruling
The court’s order consists of the word “Granted,” followed by the date and Judge Paul A. Engelmayer’s signature. The court therefore granted Capri Sun’s motion to seal and redact the specified materials. The opinion text provided here does not include Exhibits A and B, which the letter says listed the particular documents to be sealed or redacted. The order addressed filing confidentiality and did not decide the parties’ underlying dispute.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.