Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System v. Bank of America Corporation

Background

JPMorgan requested permission to file under seal and in redacted form exhibits attached to its opposition to the plaintiffs' letter-motion seeking permission to serve certain “spoliation-related” interrogatories. Interrogatories are written questions used in discovery, and “spoliation” generally concerns the loss, destruction, or alteration of potentially relevant evidence; the opinion text does not describe the underlying dispute in further detail.

JPMorgan said that one exhibit was the parties' Phone Agreement, which had been designated “highly confidential” under the parties' stipulated protective order. JPMorgan also proposed redacting the names of certain custodians and deponents in another exhibit. The filing stated that sealed versions of three exhibits were being submitted at the same time.

Ruling

The court stated that the unredacted version of the submission may be filed under seal and that it would be viewable only by the parties and the court. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the pending motion at docket entry 530. The text provided does not state whether the underlying request to serve the additional interrogatories was granted or denied.

Effect

This order addressed how the submission would be filed and who could view it. It did not, in the text provided, decide the underlying discovery request or resolve the merits of the case.