Thales Avionics, Inc. v. L3 Technologies, Inc.
- John Koeltl
- 1:24-cv-00112
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Thales Avionics v. L3 Technologies, Judge Tarnofsky granted Thales Avionics’s application to keep its letter and exhibits under seal.
Thales Avionics, Inc. and L3 Technologies, Inc.; the order keeps the specified letter and exhibits under seal and limits their public access.
What happened
In Thales Avionics, Inc. v. L3 Technologies, Inc., Thales Avionics asked to file a letter and two exhibits under seal. The exhibits had been designated for outside counsel’s eyes only and concerned information that L3 Technologies described as confidential and competitively sensitive.
Thales Avionics said it did not object to public filing but requested temporary sealing so L3 Technologies could address whether the documents should remain sealed. The request relied on the risk that disclosure of commercially sensitive information could cause competitive harm.
Judge Tarnofsky granted the application. The February 1 letter and its attached exhibits were to remain under seal. The order addressed access to court filings and did not decide the parties’ underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- Thales Avionics, Inc. v. L3 Technologies, Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-00112
- John Koeltl
- Feb. 2, 2024
Background
Thales Avionics requested permission to file under seal a February 1, 2024 letter and two attached exhibits. The request was made in response to an earlier court order concerning documents produced by L3 Technologies. That order required Exhibits A and B to be treated as highly confidential, with disclosure limited to outside counsel’s eyes only.
Thales Avionics stated that L3 Technologies had described the exhibits as confidential communications containing competitively sensitive information. L3 Technologies had also sought to file under seal a letter that referred to and described some of the exhibits’ contents, saying the information arose from a competitive bidding process that had not yet resulted in a final sale.
Court’s Analysis
The request cited the presumption of public access to court records and recognized exceptions for interests such as business secrecy and privacy. It also cited decisions allowing commercially sensitive information to be sealed when disclosure could cause competitive harm. Thales Avionics said it did not object to public filing, but asked the court to keep the documents under seal while L3 Technologies had an opportunity to address whether they should remain sealed.
Ruling
Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky granted Thales Avionics’s application. The February 1 letter and its attached exhibits were ordered to remain under seal. The order was limited to filing access and did not resolve the underlying claims or defenses in the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.