Opinion
21-CV-1006 (JMF) (JLC)
05-13-2021
LARRY ANDERSON, Plaintiff, v. GM MOTORS & SHAREHOLDERS, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
JAMES L. COTT, United States Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff has filed several letters pertaining to the settlement proceedings in this case. Judge Furman has temporarily placed them under restricted viewing access, and has directed the parties to raise with me whether and to what extent the letters should be publicly filed. Having reviewed these letters, I have determined that they should not be publicly filed and should remain under restricted viewing access as they pertain to confidential settlement negotiations between the parties. It is well-settled that the confidentiality of settlement negotiations outweighs the presumption of public access in most cases, and that is true here. See, e.g., Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Telegram Grp. Inc., No. 19-CV-9439 (PKC), 2020 WL 3264264, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. June 17, 2020) (“protecting the confidentiality of the settlement negotiation process represents a significant countervailing factor that can outweigh the presumption of public access and warrant the sealing of settlement negotiations materials”).
These letters can be found at Docket Nos. 43, 45, 49-1, and 49-2.
New GM has emailed the Court a letter dated May 13, 2021 raising the issues addressed in this Order. However, any such correspondence should be filed rather than emailed to the Court for the record to be complete. If New GM wishes to redact some aspects of its correspondence, it may do so by complying with the Court's Individual Rules as they pertain to redacted filings and then email an unredacted version to the Court. As to the May 13 letter, the Court does not believe any settlement-related information is included therein. It therefore sees no reason why the letter should not be docketed, as it is not a “confidential settlement communication” as it has been denominated. The Court therefore directs new GM to file its May 13 letter.
Plaintiff has now been warned several times by Judge Furman not to file confidential settlement-related information without permission. I remind Plaintiff once again that he may not file on the public docket any letters or other documents that contain settlement-related information without permission from the Court.
New GM is directed to serve a copy of this Order on Plaintiff and file proof of such service on the docket.
SO ORDERED.