Moonsammy v. Banks
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:23-cv-10491
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Moonsammy v. Banks, Judge Engelmayer granted plaintiffs’ request to file an 800-page administrative record under seal to protect a minor’s private information.
The ruling affects the plaintiffs, particularly the minor A.M., by restricting public access to the administrative record and its health and education information.
What happened
Moonsammy et al. v. Banks et al. concerns plaintiffs’ request to keep an administrative record from public view. The record concerns A.M., a minor, and includes information about her health, disabilities, and education.
Plaintiffs argued that this information was confidential and personally identifying. They said sealing the entire record was necessary because it was more than 800 pages, contained extensive sensitive information, and could not be meaningfully understood if the relevant details were redacted.
The court granted the request to file the administrative record under seal. Judge Engelmayer dated and signed the order on April 16, 2024.
The detailed version
- Moonsammy v. Banks · No. 1:23-cv-10491
- Paul Engelmayer
- Apr. 16, 2024
Background
Plaintiffs asked the court for permission to file the administrative record under seal, meaning that the record would not be publicly accessible. The record concerns A.M., a minor, and includes personally identifying information about her health, disabilities, education, and the health and educational services involved in the case.
Plaintiffs’ Position
Plaintiffs argued that the privacy interests of the minor and other plaintiffs outweighed the public’s general right to inspect judicial documents. They cited federal provisions concerning the confidentiality of personally identifiable information in proceedings involving children with disabilities. Plaintiffs also argued that sealing the entire record was narrowly tailored because the record is more than 800 pages and contains extensive confidential information. In their view, redacting the sensitive material would be overly burdensome and would make important portions of the record, including A.M.’s individualized education plan, unintelligible for purposes of evaluating the case.
Ruling
The court granted plaintiffs’ request to file the administrative record under seal. The order states “GRANTED” and was signed by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on April 16, 2024. The opinion text does not state any separate ruling on the merits of the underlying action.
Disposition
The request to file the administrative record under seal was granted.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.