PharmacyChecker.com LLC v. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:19-cv-07577
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In PharmacyChecker.com v. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Judge Karas rejected full sealing, requiring proposed redactions for confidential business information.
PharmacyChecker.com LLC, the parties whose filings and exhibits were at issue, and the public’s access to those court records.
What happened
PharmacyChecker.com LLC asked the Southern District of New York to permanently seal portions of letters and more than 20 exhibits that had previously been conditionally sealed. The company said the materials contained confidential, competitively sensitive business information.
The court found the request to seal the entire exhibits overbroad. It concluded that the concerns could be addressed by redacting the confidential information instead of sealing the exhibits completely.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas ordered PharmacyChecker.com to propose redactions by May 13, 2022. The excerpt does not expressly state that the motion was formally granted or denied.
The detailed version
- PharmacyChecker.com LLC v. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy · No. 7:19-cv-07577
- Kenneth Karas
- May 6, 2022
Background
PharmacyChecker.com LLC sought to permanently seal portions of defendants’ pre-motion summary-judgment and expert-evidence letters, related exhibits, and PharmacyChecker.com’s responses and related exhibits. Those materials had previously been filed under a conditional seal. PharmacyChecker.com argued that public disclosure would expose confidential and competitively sensitive business information and harm its business.
Legal standard
The filing discussed the public’s presumptive right of access to court records. It explained that courts may seal confidential material after considering whether the material is a judicial document, the strength of the public-access presumption, and whether countervailing interests outweigh that presumption. The filing identified confidential business information such as sales figures, business plans, trade secrets, and supplier or customer relationships as information that may justify restricted access.
Court’s action
The court found PharmacyChecker.com’s request to permanently seal the conditionally sealed materials overbroad because it sought to seal the entirety of more than 20 exhibits and quotations from them. The court stated that the confidentiality concerns could instead be handled by redacting the confidential information within the exhibits. PharmacyChecker.com was ordered to propose redactions no later than May 13, 2022. The excerpt does not expressly identify the ruling as a formal grant or denial of the motion.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.