Abdou v. Walker
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:19-cv-01824
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Abdou v. Walker, Judge Engelmayer granted a request to seal expert reports and redact related opposition passages.
Shareef Abdou, Joseph Bird, and public access to the identified court filings were affected. The reports were allowed to be filed under seal, and portions of Abdou’s opposition discussing them could be redacted.
What happened
In Abdou v. Walker, Shareef Abdou asked the court to seal two expert reports attached to his opposition and to redact parts of that opposition discussing the reports. The reports concerned billing practices and fees in an underlying action.
Abdou’s letter said the reports contained confidential client identities and nonpublic financial analyses. It also said the request was consistent with the case’s protective order and that there was little public interest in requiring public filing.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted the request on September 27, 2022. The supplied order does not provide additional explanation beyond granting the request.
The detailed version
- Abdou v. Walker · No. 1:19-cv-01824
- Paul Engelmayer
- Sept. 27, 2022
Background
Shareef Abdou filed a letter asking the court to accept certain materials under seal and to allow redactions in his opposition to Joseph Bird’s motion to strike the jury demand and bar expert testimony. The materials included reports by Steven A. Tasher and Richard J. Cavo concerning the reasonableness of defendants’ billing practices and fees in an underlying action.
Requested Relief
Abdou asked to file the expert reports under seal and to redact portions of his opposition that discussed them. His letter stated that the reports contained confidential information, including the identities of clients who had received legal services, as well as nonpublic financial analyses concerning billing practices. The letter also referred to the stipulated protective order in the case and discussed the presumption of public access to judicial records and the standards courts use when deciding whether sealing is justified.
Ruling
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted the request. The order therefore allowed the identified expert reports to be filed under seal and permitted the requested redactions to the opposition. The supplied text does not include further findings explaining the ruling.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.