In re: Elysium Health-Chromadex Litigation

Issue and background

The court received the parties’ joint letter responding to its direction that they review exhibits connected to their summary-judgment and expert-witness motions and identify which materials should remain under seal. The parties asked to keep entire depositions under seal, except for limited portions cited by the parties or the court. They also requested that some other documents be redacted in their entirety.

Court’s reasoning

The court stated that these requests were inconsistent with the public-access principles in Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga. Documents submitted to the court in connection with summary judgment carry a presumption of public access. The court explained that this interest does not depend entirely on whether the court actually relied on a document or a particular portion of deposition testimony. Materials submitted for the court’s consideration may warrant disclosure even if they did not ultimately affect the decision.

Order

The court directed the parties to resubmit their letter by March 1, 2022. The revised letter had to identify specifically which portions of the depositions or other exhibits should remain under seal and explain the basis for each request. The court stated that, without such a detailed request identifying the particular items and explaining why they should remain sealed, it would deny the sealing request in its entirety and place the material on the public docket. This order addressed the sealing requests; the opinion did not state that the court had yet finally ruled on which materials would remain sealed.