Accent Delight International Ltd. v. Sotheby's

Background

Sotheby’s filed a motion to seal materials connected to an underlying motion. The materials included Exhibit 29 to the declaration of Mikhail Sazonov, which was a contract between non-party Sanford Heller and plaintiff Accent Delight International Ltd. Counsel for Heller stated that the contract contained confidential, non-public information about Heller’s professional dealings with a counterparty.

Heller asked the court to grant Sotheby’s sealing request to the extent it covered Exhibit 29 and the contract’s terms. The submission relied on decisions recognizing that the privacy interests of innocent third parties are important when courts balance the public’s presumptive right to access court records against competing concerns.

Ruling

The court temporarily granted the application. It stated that it would determine whether to maintain the identified document under seal, in whole or in part, when deciding the underlying motion. Thus, the order did not finally decide the extent or duration of sealing. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate ECF No. 420, Sotheby’s sealing motion.

Effect

The order temporarily protected the identified document from public access while postponing the final sealing decision. The ruling affected the document and the privacy interests asserted by Sanford Heller, while preserving the court’s later decision about whether the document should remain sealed and to what extent.