Valelly v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:19-cv-07998
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Valelly v. Merrill Lynch, Judge Caproni granted Merrill Lynch’s motion to seal or redact sensitive business information supporting its opposition to class certification.
Merrill Lynch, non-party Bank of America, the plaintiff and putative class, and members of the public seeking access to the identified court materials.
What happened
In Valelly v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Merrill Lynch asked to seal or redact materials filed in support of its opposition to the plaintiff’s class-certification motion. The materials included information about Bank of America’s interest-rate methods and financial analyses, as well as Merrill Lynch’s account and cash-sweep information.
Merrill Lynch and non-party Bank of America argued that the information was confidential, proprietary, and competitively sensitive. The plaintiff said the standard for restricting public access was high but took no position on this motion after reserving her rights in connection with an earlier sealing request.
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the application and ordered it accordingly on May 13, 2022. The order did not separately describe which portions would be sealed or redacted beyond the materials identified in the motion.
The detailed version
- Valelly v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated · No. 1:19-cv-07998
- Valerie Caproni
- May 13, 2022
Background
Merrill Lynch moved for permission to file under seal or in redacted form materials submitted in support of its opposition to the plaintiff’s motion for class certification. The materials included portions of legal memoranda, expert-report and deposition-transcript excerpts, and documents identified as exhibits. Non-party Bank of America, N.A. joined the request as to its information.
Requested Sealing and Redactions
The request concerned three categories of information:
- Bank of America’s methods for setting interest rates, including factors considered, competitive analysis, and proposed rate changes.
- Financial information about the effects of Bank of America’s rate decisions, including internal modeling and forecasts.
- Merrill Lynch information about cash and accounts in investment accounts, including account balances, cash swept, numbers of accounts, and statement-linked accounts.
Merrill Lynch and Bank of America argued that these materials contained nonpublic business information that could cause competitive harm if disclosed. They also stated that the requested redactions and sealing were limited to these categories and were consistent with a prior order in the case.
Positions of the Parties
Merrill Lynch and Bank of America sought the sealing or redaction. The plaintiff stated that the standard for restricting access to court documents is high, particularly in a class action, but took no position on this motion in light of the Court’s earlier sealing order and reserved her rights.
Ruling
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the application and ordered it accordingly. The opinion text does not separately specify the treatment of each listed document or identify the particular passages that were sealed or redacted.
Classification
This is a procedural order concerning access to court filings, not a decision on the underlying class-certification dispute.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.