The State Of Texas v. Google, LLC
- P. Castel
- 1:21-cv-06841
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
The State of Texas v. Google LLC: Judge Castel granted Google’s motion to seal narrowly redacted personal information in a filed exhibit.
Google LLC, the state plaintiffs, third parties whose personal information appears in the exhibit, and members of the public seeking access to the filing.
What happened
In The State of Texas v. Google LLC, Google asked to keep limited personal information in part of a publicly filed exhibit under seal.
The court found that third parties’ privacy interests outweighed the public’s applicable right to inspect the information. It also found that Google’s proposed redactions were narrowly tailored to protect those interests.
Judge Castel granted Google’s motion and ordered that the redacted content in the exhibit remain under seal. The order did not decide the underlying antitrust claims or Google’s motion to dismiss.
The detailed version
- The State Of Texas v. Google, LLC · No. 1:21-cv-06841
- P. Castel
- Feb. 16, 2022
Background
This order concerns a sealing request in the related multidistrict antitrust litigation, In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation. Google sought to maintain under seal limited personal information contained in a publicly filed Exhibit A to the declaration of Andrew J. Ewalt. The exhibit supported Google’s motion to dismiss Counts I through IV of the state plaintiffs’ third amended complaint.
Court’s Analysis
The court reviewed Google’s submissions and concluded that third parties’ privacy interests in keeping the information sealed outweighed any applicable presumption that court filings should be publicly accessible. The court also determined that the proposed redactions were narrowly tailored to protect those privacy interests.
Disposition
The court granted Google LLC’s motion to seal. It ordered that the redacted content in the publicly filed exhibit remain under seal. This order addressed access to information in a court filing; it did not rule on the underlying antitrust claims or on the merits of Google’s motion to dismiss.
Judge
The order was entered by Judge P. Kevin Castel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.