Nunes v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC
- P. Castel
- 1:22-cv-01633
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Nunes v. NBCUniversal Media, Judge Netburn reaffirmed limited sealing and ordered Nunes to file a redacted letter.
Nunes must file a partially redacted letter and may redact the entire exhibit; NBCUniversal Media, LLC and the public are affected by which portions remain accessible.
What happened
In Nunes v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Nunes had asked to keep parts of a supplemental letter and an exhibit private. The court had initially allowed the filing to be sealed while it considered the request.
The court said the materials concerned confidential email negotiations between lawyers, and that it had not relied on them in deciding the underlying motion. The court also said the non-confidential portions of the letter should remain public.
Judge Netburn reaffirmed the limited sealing and ordered Nunes to file a redacted version by May 13, 2024. Nunes may redact specified text and two footnotes, while keeping legal arguments and case citations visible; the entire exhibit may be redacted.
The detailed version
- Nunes v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC · No. 1:22-cv-01633
- P. Castel
- May 8, 2024
Background
Nunes previously asked to file portions of a supplemental letter and an accompanying exhibit under seal, meaning outside ordinary public access. The court initially granted that request on an interim basis, and Nunes filed the entire supplemental letter under seal.
Court’s reasoning
After issuing its decision on the underlying motion, the court reaffirmed its grant of Nunes’s motion to seal portions of the letter. The letter referred to, and the exhibit represented, confidential email negotiations between counsel. The court stated that it did not rely on those communications in deciding the underlying motion, so they were not judicial documents subject to the usual presumption of public access. It also stated that there was no public-access right to those confidential communications.
The court distinguished the rest of the letter. Any portion that did not refer to confidential communications should not be sealed.
Order
The court ordered Nunes to file a redacted version of the letter by Monday, May 13, 2024. Nunes may redact the text beginning after “Defendant had the opportunity . . .” at the bottom of page 2 and ending before the letter’s final sentence. Nunes may also redact the two footnotes, except for legal arguments or case citations. The entire exhibit may be redacted.
Judge
The order was signed by Sarah Netburn, United States Magistrate Judge.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.