John Marcelletti, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. GEICO General Insurance Company

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of New York addresses GEICO’s motion to seal materials filed in connection with class-certification and expert-witness motions in a putative class action concerning payment of sales tax as part of the actual cash value of total-loss vehicles. The court grants the motion only as to vehicle identification numbers corresponding to sealing requests 40, 59, and 74, and denies all other sealing requests because the proposed information is generic, stale, publicly disclosed, or insufficiently supported as likely to cause competitive harm.

Holdings

1. Briefs and exhibits submitted to influence the court's ruling on a class-certification motion and motions to exclude or limit expert testimony are judicial documents subject to the common-law presumption of public access.
2. The First Amendment right of access attaches to the briefs and exhibits submitted in connection with the class-certification and expert motions.
3. GEICO failed to show that the proposed redactions concerning its processes, procedures, data systems, vehicle valuations, and sales-tax policies were necessary to prevent competitive harm or narrowly tailored to protect a higher value.
4. GEICO may redact the vehicle identification numbers of putative class members because the information is personally identifiable, immaterial to resolution of the motions, and outweighed by the insureds' privacy interests.

Questions Presented

1. Whether briefs and exhibits submitted in connection with a class-certification motion and motions to limit or exclude expert testimony are judicial documents subject to a presumption of public access.
2. Whether the First Amendment right of access attaches to those briefs and exhibits.
3. Whether GEICO established that its proposed redactions were necessary and narrowly tailored to protect higher values, including competitive harm and privacy interests.
4. Whether the court should permit redaction of vehicle identification numbers belonging to putative class members.

Disposition

other