Abreu Bautista v. Pagan-Rodriguez

Background

The court entered a confidentiality order to preserve the confidentiality of documents produced by Angel Luis Pagan-Rodriguez, Kenneth O. Lester Company, Inc., PFG Transco, Inc., and Ryder Truck Rental Inc. The materials designated as confidential are dash-camera footage and policies, procedures, guidelines, or manuals concerning safe operation of the tractor-trailer in use by the defendants when the collision occurred.

The order identifies Robert L. Astrachan, counsel for Julio A. Monserrate Rivera; JoAn E. Abreu, counsel for Yeiro Jose Abreu Bautista; and any counsel who may appear for third-party defendant Julio A. Monserrate Rivera as receiving attorneys.

Terms of the Order

The receiving attorneys must maintain the designated materials in strict confidence and use them only to prepare for trial in the action. They may not use the materials for business or other purposes, and they must prevent disclosure to third parties except for duly appointed agents involved in analyzing the information for the litigation. Copies may be made only for use in the litigation.

The nondisclosure obligations continue after the materials are returned. At the end of the case, the confidential materials and copies must be returned to counsel for the producing party or, at that party’s option, destroyed with certification of destruction. Abstracts, charts, summaries, notes, and memoranda embodying the confidential information must also be destroyed with certification.

Public Access and Sealing

The court expressly stated that it had not reviewed the referenced documents and therefore made no finding that they are confidential. Whether the materials may be offered publicly at trial or in motion practice, or filed separately under seal, requires a further application to the court. Any request for further protection will be considered in light of the presumption favoring public access to judicial documents.

The restrictions may be terminated only by another court order for good cause. The court retained jurisdiction after the case’s final resolution or settlement for the limited purpose of enforcing the confidentiality order.

Disposition

Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered the confidentiality agreement, subject to the limitation that it does not authorize filing documents under seal without a prior court order and does not itself determine that the documents qualify as confidential.