United States v. Maranatha Human Services, Inc.

Background

Plaintiff-relator Stephanie Munford submitted an unopposed letter motion under Rule I of the court’s Individual Rules of Practice. She requested permission to redact portions of exhibits that she planned to file in opposition to Maranatha Human Services, Inc.’s summary judgment motion. The letter states that Maranatha’s counsel consented to the proposed redactions.

Requested redactions

The proposed redactions covered patient names in excerpts from depositions of Maranatha employees Kate Mullaly and Tiffany Harris. They also covered Stephanie Munford’s home street address in letters from Al Cole and Rosalind Medley. The letter’s table also identifies an email from Ms. Harris as an exhibit containing information to be redacted, although the table does not clearly display the description of that information in the provided text.

Arguments

Munford argued that the redactions were limited to personally identifying information and were not substantive. She stated that the patient names concerned the provision of medical care to third parties and were protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and related Department of Health regulations. She cited decisions allowing protected health information to be redacted from publicly filed documents. She also cited decisions recognizing home addresses as personal information that may be shielded from public disclosure when unrelated to the issues in the case.

Court action

The text ends with a “SO ORDERED” notation dated May 22, 2023. It does not include a separate sentence expressly stating that the letter motion was granted or denied. The request concerned redactions to filed exhibits, not the merits of the underlying dispute or Maranatha’s summary judgment motion.