New York City Transit Authority v. Express Scripts, Inc.

Background

In an earlier opinion and order, the court required any party seeking to keep materials under seal or in redacted form to explain, document by document, why that treatment was consistent with the public’s presumptive right to access court records. Both parties submitted written explanations on March 15, 2022.

Ruling

The court applied the three-part test governing whether court documents may be sealed. It concluded that the documents identified by the parties should remain under seal or in redacted form, substantially for the reasons stated in their letters. The court referred to privacy interests of uninvolved third parties and the need to protect sensitive commercial information from competitors as considerations supporting that result.

The court ordered the parties to file a joint letter by March 23, 2022, listing the filings, with their electronic filing numbers, that could be unsealed in full. It separately directed New York City Transit Authority to publicly file on the court’s electronic filing system a copy of Exhibit 5 to the Shifrin Declaration with proposed redactions, while also filing an unredacted copy under seal with the proposed redactions highlighted. The opinion does not identify every document that remained sealed or redacted.

Effect of the Order

This was an order concerning public access to court filings and the handling of sealed or redacted materials. It did not decide the parties’ underlying dispute as described in this opinion. Judge Jesse M. Furman entered the order.