Time Square, LLC v. Valley Forge Insurance Company
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-00257
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 9
In Times Square Suites v. Valley Forge, Judge Furman entered a protective order governing confidential discovery.
Times Square Suites, LLC, Valley Forge Insurance Company, their counsel and specified representatives, and other people who receive confidential discovery material or have actual notice of the order.
What happened
Times Square Suites, LLC v. Valley Forge Insurance Company is an insurance-related federal case in which the parties asked the court to protect nonpublic and competitively sensitive information exchanged during discovery.
The order limits disclosure of properly designated confidential discovery materials, allows their use only for this case and related appeals, and requires certain recipients to sign nondisclosure agreements. It also sets procedures for challenging confidentiality designations, filing confidential materials, responding to subpoenas, and returning or destroying the materials after the case ends.
Judge Jesse M. Furman approved the stipulated protective order on March 16, 2023. He stated that the order did not decide whether any particular document was actually confidential and did not automatically authorize filing documents under seal.
The detailed version
- Time Square, LLC v. Valley Forge Insurance Company · No. 1:23-cv-00257
- Jesse Furman
- Mar. 16, 2023
Nature of the Order
The court entered a stipulated confidentiality agreement and protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The parties, through counsel, requested protection for nonpublic and competitively sensitive information that might be disclosed during discovery. The court found good cause for an appropriately limited order governing the pretrial phase of the case.
Confidential Information
A producing party may designate only material that it reasonably and in good faith believes includes specified types of information, such as previously undisclosed financial information; information about ownership or control of a nonpublic company; business, product-development, or marketing plans; personal or intimate information; or another category later given confidential status by the court.
The order establishes procedures for marking documents and designating deposition testimony or exhibits. A party may also correct an earlier failure to designate material as confidential by giving written notice and providing replacement versions within two business days.
Permitted Disclosures and Use
People subject to the order generally may not disclose designated confidential discovery material except to listed recipients, including the parties and their insurers; counsel and litigation support personnel; outside vendors; mediators or arbitrators; certain people identified in a document; potential witnesses; experts and specialized advisers; court reporters; and the court. Witnesses, experts, mediators, arbitrators, and certain other recipients must receive the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement before receiving the material.
Recipients may use confidential discovery material only to prosecute or defend this action and any appeals. The order does not waive objections to discovery, privilege, or evidentiary objections, and it does not restrict a party's rights concerning its own documents or information.
Challenges, Court Filings, and Sealing
A party may object to a confidentiality designation or request additional disclosure limits by giving written notice that explains the grounds. Unresolved disputes are to be brought to the court under its individual practices.
When confidential material is filed with the court, the parties must publicly file a redacted version and submit the unredacted version under seal in accordance with the court's procedures. A party seeking to file material under seal must separately justify sealing on a particularized basis. The court emphasized that it had not determined that any particular document was confidential and that it might unseal material if the legal standard for sealing was not met. The order does not authorize filing documents under seal without a prior court order.
End of the Order and Enforcement
Within 60 days after final disposition of the action, including appeals, recipients must return or, with the producing party's permission, destroy confidential discovery material and certify that they have not retained copies or other reproductions. Counsel specifically retained for the action may keep certain archival litigation files, which remain subject to the order. The confidentiality obligations continue after the litigation ends, and the court retains jurisdiction to enforce the order and impose contempt sanctions.
Read the full 9-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.