Finn Corporation, et al. v. Precision Machine & Manufacturing, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio grants Plaintiffs’ unopposed motion to file under seal a four-page Memorandum of Understanding attached as Exhibit 1 to the Amended Complaint. The Court finds that the exhibit contains sensitive business and pricing information, that sealing is narrowly tailored and justified by a compelling interest, and denies as moot Plaintiffs’ earlier sealing motion.

Holdings

1. Plaintiffs established a compelling interest in sealing Exhibit 1 because it contained sensitive business information, including confidential pricing data, whose disclosure could provide competitors with access to plaintiffs' business strategy.
2. The request to seal the entirety of Exhibit 1 was no greater than necessary because the exhibit contained highly confidential business information, the public could understand the dispute and the document's relevance from plaintiffs' description, and the remainder of the amended complaint and exhibits would remain public.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiffs demonstrated a compelling interest sufficient to overcome the presumption of public access to court records.
2. Whether sealing the entirety of Exhibit 1 was narrowly tailored and outweighed the public interest in access.

Disposition

other