A federal district court refused a former employee’s request to seal records of an arbitration proceeding in which the arbitrator ordered that he was not entitled to severance pay. William Fine was terminated from his position at Alexandria Real Estate Equities for making disparaging statements about the company. Alexandria obtained an award holding that it did not owe Fine severance pay and moved to have the award confirmed. In the award, the arbitrator explained the reasons for Fine’s termination and quoted the statements that he had made about Alexandria. Fine did not oppose confirmation but moved to seal portions of the arbitration record, including the petition to confirm, a supporting declaration, and the award itself. The court rejected Fine’s request citing the First Amendment presumption in favor of access to judicial documents and proceedings. The court held that, in order to overcome this presumption, Fine had to show that the “requested sealing is narrowly tailored to preserve ‘higher values.’” Such values, according to case law cited by the court, include protecting: the attorney-client privilege, national security, the privacy of innocent third-parties, and the confidentiality of sensitive patient information. The court found that Fine’s purported reason—that if the records remain public, it will be more difficult for him to get hired by potential employers—did not rise to the level of a “higher value.” Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. v. Fair, Case No. 11-3694 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Nov. 30, 2011).
A different judge in the same court granted Century Indemnity Company’s motion to seal portions of its petition to compel arbitration, memorandum of law, and affidavit in support. The court did not offer any reasoning for its decision and the motion to seal and memorandum themselves are sealed. It is not apparent, furthermore, whether the motion to seal was contested. Century Indem. Co. v. Everest Reinsurance Co., Case No. 11-8362 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Nov. 17, 2011).
This post written by Ben Seessel.
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