Sholopa v. Turkish Airlines, Inc.
- Andrew Carter
- 1:20-cv-03294
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Sholopa v. Turkish Airlines, Inc., Judge Carter denied the motion to seal and ordered unredacted documents filed.
The parties to the case, particularly the defendants who sought sealing, must file unredacted versions of the relevant documents; the ruling also preserves public access to those documents.
What happened
In Sholopa v. Turkish Airlines, Inc., the parties asked the court to seal certain documents after a February 16, 2023 hearing.
The court said judicial documents are generally presumed open to the public under common law and the First Amendment. It found that the defendants had not shown a serious enough injury from disclosure to justify sealing the documents.
Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. denied the joint motion to seal and directed the parties to file unredacted versions of the relevant documents by February 21, 2023.
The detailed version
- Sholopa v. Turkish Airlines, Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-03294
- Andrew Carter
- Feb. 17, 2023
Background
After a February 16, 2023 hearing, the parties submitted a joint letter motion asking the court to seal documents. The opinion does not identify the specific documents or describe the information the parties sought to keep from public view.
Legal standard
The court explained that judicial documents carry a presumption of public access under both the common law and the First Amendment. It applied the requirement that a party seeking protection make a particular and specific factual showing that disclosure would cause an injury serious enough to justify sealing.
Ruling
The court found that the defendants had not made the required showing. It therefore denied the joint letter motion to seal at ECF No. 741 and directed the parties to file unredacted versions of the relevant documents by February 21, 2023.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.