Farsura v. QC Terme US Corp

Background

The plaintiffs asked the court to seal Exhibits I and K attached to the defendants’ May 20, 2022 letter and to redact parts of that letter referring to the exhibits. The plaintiffs said the exhibits contained portions of a financial analysis prepared for Stefano Farsura’s 2014 tax accounting. They stated that the materials included private information, including the names of certain clients, descriptions of purchases made for clients, and the value of those gifts.

The request was made under the court’s procedure for sealing documents. The defendants opposed sealing. The opinion states that the disputed portions were not relied on by the defendants except for discussions concerning Mr. Farsura’s wife, and that the plaintiffs believed those matters were unrelated to the case.

Court’s reasoning

The plaintiffs argued that the exhibits were not “judicial documents”—documents relevant to deciding a claim or defense—and therefore were not subject to a strong presumption of public access. They alternatively argued that any public-access interest was limited because the materials had only an indirect connection to the case.

The plaintiffs also relied on the federal policy protecting tax-return information. The opinion cites 26 U.S.C. § 6103, which generally requires tax returns and tax-return information to remain confidential and defines that information broadly to include items such as income, receipts, deductions, assets, liabilities, and tax payments. The plaintiffs argued that the worksheets covered the same kinds of information and that privacy interests outweighed the limited public interest in disclosure.

Disposition

The court’s filing ends with a “SO ORDERED” notation by Judge Robert W. Lehrburger beneath the plaintiffs’ request. The ruling therefore ordered the sealing of Exhibits I and K and the redaction of the portions of the May 20 letter that referred to or described those exhibits. The opinion does not state that Judge Loretta Preska issued this ruling.