Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc. v. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- John Koeltl
- 1:23-cv-06414
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Banco San Juan Internacional v. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Judge Koeltl granted the bank’s request to file sensitive material under seal.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc., the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and third parties whose customer or supervisory information appears in the exhibit.
What happened
Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc. sued the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Bank asked to file under seal an exhibit supporting its motion to dismiss Banco San Juan’s amended complaint.
The exhibit was a Federal Reserve Bank memorandum assessing the risks of Banco San Juan’s access to a Federal Reserve master account and financial services. The bank said the memorandum contained nonpublic supervisory information and information about Banco San Juan’s customers and their transactions. Banco San Juan did not object.
The court granted the application. Judge Koeltl allowed the Federal Reserve Bank to file the exhibit under seal, consistent with the court’s earlier decision to seal the same document in connection with Banco San Juan’s request for a preliminary injunction.
The detailed version
- Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc. v. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York · No. 1:23-cv-06414
- John Koeltl
- Mar. 25, 2024
Background
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York asked for permission to file under seal Exhibit F to the declaration of Michael M. Brennan in support of its motion to dismiss Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc.’s amended complaint. The court’s docket text states that the application was granted, and the filing includes the court’s “APPLICATION GRANTED” and “SO ORDERED” notation.
The exhibit is a Federal Reserve Bank memorandum dated March 31, 2023. According to the filing, it assesses the risks posed by Banco San Juan’s access to a Federal Reserve Bank master account and financial services. The memorandum contains nonpublic references to supervisory information and information specific to Banco San Juan’s customers and customer transaction activity. The filing states that Banco San Juan did not object to the sealing request.
Sealing Standard and Requested Relief
The filing described the Second Circuit’s three-part standard for sealing court documents. A court first determines whether the material is a judicial document to which a common-law presumption of public access applies. If so, the court determines the weight of that presumption and balances it against competing considerations, including privacy interests. Any sealing or redaction must be narrowly tailored.
The Federal Reserve Bank argued that confidential customer information and commercially sensitive information can outweigh the presumption of public access. It also relied on the court’s earlier approval of sealing the same memorandum when it was submitted in opposition to Banco San Juan’s preliminary-injunction motion. The filing noted that the court had previously sealed documents containing similar customer, account, supervisory, and nonpublic information.
Ruling
The court granted the Federal Reserve Bank’s application for leave to file Exhibit F under seal. The order did not decide the Federal Reserve Bank’s motion to dismiss or the merits of Banco San Juan’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.