Allianz Global Investors GmbH v. Bank Of America Corporation
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:18-cv-10364
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Allianz Global Investors v. Bank of America: Judge Schofield granted a request to seal materials concerning a discovery privilege dispute.
The parties to the case, the third-party BlackRock employees whose names appeared in the materials, and members of the public seeking access to the sealed filing.
What happened
In Allianz Global Investors GmbH v. Bank Of America Corporation, defendants asked to keep sealed a letter and exhibit concerning information that plaintiffs had produced in discovery and later reclaimed as privileged.
The materials included names of current and former BlackRock employees and sensitive business information. The request also relied on the parties’ confidentiality order, which required privilege-dispute motions to be filed under seal.
Judge Schofield granted the request, finding that it was narrowly tailored to prevent unauthorized disclosure of sensitive business information. The order did not decide whether the disputed materials were protected by attorney-client privilege.
The detailed version
- Allianz Global Investors GmbH v. Bank Of America Corporation · No. 1:18-cv-10364
- Lorna Schofield
- June 22, 2022
Background
Defense counsel sought permission to keep under seal a forthcoming letter and exhibit concerning a dispute over attorney-client privilege. The dispute involved materials that plaintiffs had produced during discovery and later “clawed back,” meaning they sought to retrieve the materials and treat them as privileged.
The parties’ protective order required motions concerning privilege disputes to be filed under seal and required the disputed materials to be treated as privileged until the court ruled on the dispute. Plaintiffs also supported sealing because the materials contained the names of current and former BlackRock employees and sensitive business information. BlackRock had previously designated the materials as confidential under the protective order.
Ruling
The court granted the sealing request. It stated that the proposed sealing requests were narrowly tailored to prevent unauthorized dissemination of sensitive business information. The order addressed sealing only; it did not resolve whether the disputed materials were protected by attorney-client privilege.
Effect
The letter and exhibit concerning the privilege dispute were permitted to remain under seal. The ruling therefore limited public access to those materials but did not decide the underlying privilege dispute or the parties’ broader claims.
Judge
The supplied case metadata identifies Judge Lorna Schofield. The opinion text addresses United States Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron, creating an ambiguity about which judge issued the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.