In Re: Celsius Network LLC

Background

Celsius Network Limited, the appellee, filed a motion asking for permission to file its opposition to the opening brief of appellants Equities First Holdings, LLC, and Alexander Christy with redactions. The request relied on the court’s December 13, 2023 order, which allowed certain sensitive material to be filed under seal.

Legal standard

The court applied the three-step test described by the Second Circuit for sealing court records. First, the court determines whether the material is a judicial document—that is, material submitted to the court that is relevant to its judicial work and useful in the judicial process. Second, the court determines how much weight to give the public’s presumed right to access that document. Third, the court identifies legitimate reasons for limiting disclosure and balances those reasons against the public-access interest.

Court’s analysis

The court found that the documents at issue were judicial documents. It also found that the presumption of public access was modest because the information consisted of commercially sensitive business and financial information that was unlikely to have significance to the court’s consideration of the appeal from the Bankruptcy Court. The court noted that the public-access interest concerned the court’s evaluation of the Bankruptcy Court’s decision, not the merits of the underlying litigation.

The court determined that the potential commercial impact on the appellants outweighed the public’s interest in disclosure of the sealed records at this stage. The court limited its determination to the information at issue, the specified redactions highlighted in yellow, and the record before it.

Disposition

The court granted the motion to seal and granted the application to file Celsius’s opposition with the specified redactions. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the motion pending at Dkt. No. 51.