Huzhou Chuangtai Rongyuan Investment Management Partnership v. Qin

Background

Petitioners Huzhou Chuangtai Rongyuan Investment Management Partnership, Huzhou Huihengying Equity Investment Partnership, and Huzhou Huirongsheng Equity Investment Partnership asked for permission to file certain materials with redactions and other materials under seal. The request was made in connection with Petitioners’ motion to compel and relied on the parties’ stipulated protective order.

Petitioners asserted that the materials contained sensitive personal identifying information, including Hui Qin’s addresses, bank-account information, tax returns, property information, and information about minor family members. Some documents had also been marked confidential under the protective order. The request discussed the presumption that judicial documents should generally be available to the public and argued that the privacy interests in protecting this information outweighed that presumption.

Ruling

The Court granted the application. Petitioners may file redacted versions of their opening memorandum of law and supporting declarations from Lening Liu and Carol Lee. The Clerk of Court was directed to maintain the unredacted versions of those documents—Docket Entries 108, 109, and 111—under seal, viewable only by the parties and the Court. The Clerk was also directed to terminate the motion at Docket Entry 105.