The opinion
June 16, 2023
The motion to seal is granted temporarily. The Court will
Via ECF assess whether to keep the materials at issue sealed or
redacted when deciding the underlying motions. The Clerk of
Honorable Jesse Furman Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 440. ORDERED.
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
AO Centre Street, Room 2202
New York, New York 10007 June 22, 2023
Re: City of Philadelphia, et al. v. Bank of Am. Corp., et al., 19-cv-1608 (JMF)
Dear Judge Furman:
Pursuant to Rule 7 of the Court’s Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases, and the
Stipulation and Order Regarding Redaction and Sealing Process for Class Certification Briefing
(Dkt. No. 358), Defendants, on behalf of all parties, hereby seek leave to file by ECF,
Defendants’ Reply Memorandum of Law in Further Support of Defendants’ Motion to Exclude
Expert Testimony and supporting documents (the “Daubert Reply Papers”) (Dkt. Nos. 424-425)
with certain confidential documents and information redacted.! An index listing all material that
the parties seek to file in redacted form is attached as Exhibit 1. The parties have met and
conferred regarding each’s proposed redactions, and no party opposes the requests of any other
party.
The parties’ respective justifications for redacting those materials under Lugosch v.
Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20 (2d Cir. 2006), and its progeny, are set forth
below. While the parties acknowledge that the materials to be redacted are judicial documents to
which the presumption of public access attaches, they believe that in balancing the competing
considerations against the presumption of access, the Court should grant the parties’ motion.
Defendants’ information. Defendants have substantially narrowed the scope of their
confidentiality designations with respect to Defendants’ discovery material previously
designated as Confidential or Highly Confidential and filed, quoted from, or referenced in the
Daubert Reply Papers. Defendants wish to keep confidential and have filed in redacted form the
Hubbard Reply Report, which discusses specific and sensitive information related to Defendants’
inventory levels on specific CUSIPs.
Filing this document in redacted form is consistent with the standards for sealing in the
Second Circuit. Courts in the Second Circuit and the Southern District of New York have held
that it is appropriate to seal commercially sensitive “business information that might harm a
' Defendants’ Reply Memorandum of Law in in Further Support of Defendants’ Motion to Exclude
Expert Testimony (“Daubert Reply Brief”), along with the supporting Declaration of Brandon Gould
(“Gould Declaration”) and exhibits, were filed on May 15, 2023, with restricted access. Dkt. Nos. 424-
425. The Reply Declaration of Glenn Hubbard (“Hubbard Reply Report”) was included as an exhibit to
the Gould Declaration. Dkt. No. 425-1.
litigant’s competitive standing.” New York v. Actavis, PLC, No. 14-CV-7473 (RWS), 2014 WL
5353774, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2014); see also City of Providence v. BATS Glob. Markets,
Inc., No. 14-CV-2811 (JMF), 2022 WL 539438, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 23, 2022) (allowing for
sealing of documents based on potential harm to competitive standing). In order to avoid
creating a competitive disadvantage for a litigant, courts regularly allow the sealing of
commercially sensitive information, including “trade secrets, confidential research and
development information, marketing plans, revenue information, pricing information, and the
like.” Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Keystone Foods Holdings, Ltd., No. 1:19-CV-010125 (ALC), 2020
WL 5819864, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2020).
The document Defendants wish to keep confidential falls within the scope of confidential
and sensitive commercial information that should be sealed. The Hubbard Reply Report includes
information related to inventory levels on specific CUSIPs. See Dkt. No. 425-1 at p. 32.
Disclosure of this information would allow competitors to evaluate Defendants’ specific risk
limits and inventory systems, and to adjust their processes to compete against Defendants
accordingly.
Plaintiffs’ information. The materials Plaintiffs wish to keep confidential and have filed
in redacted form are numerical figures from Professor Schwert’s expert reports cited in
Defendants’ Daubert Reply Brief and the Hubbard Reply Report. Professor Schwert’s expert
reports quantify the impact of Defendants’ alleged artificial inflation of VRDO rates, and
calculate his initial estimate of class damages. Such financial figures are proper subjects of
redaction. See Valelly v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
140126, at *3-4 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 4, 2022) (granting application to seal expert report that
contained, inter alia, the “financial implications of [the defendant bank’s] rate decisions”).
Consistent with the legal authority cited above, Plaintiffs request the sealing of only that
sensitive material from the expert reports of Professor Schwert.
* * *
Accordingly, on behalf of the parties, Defendants respectfully request that the portions of
Defendants’ Daubert Reply Brief and the Hubbard Reply Report, highlighted in green (as
indexed in Exhibit 1 hereto) be permitted to be filed in redacted form. All such materials are
being filed with this letter-motion in both redacted and highlighted form, in accordance with
Rule 7.C.iii of the Court’s Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases.
Respectfully submitted,
COVINGTON & BURLING LLP JONES DAY
By: s/ Robert D. Wick By: Michael P. Conway*
Andrew A. Ruffino Jayant W. Tambe
The New York Times Building Laura Washington Sawyer
620 Eighth Avenue Céalagh P. Fitzpatrick
New York, New York 10018 Meredith Christian
Telephone: (212) 841-1000 250 Vesey Street
aruffino@cov.com New York, NY 10281-1047
Telephone: (212) 326-3604
Robert D. Wick Fax: (212) 755-7306
Brandon Gould jtambe@jonesday.com
850 Tenth Street, N.W. lwsawyer@jonesday.com
Washington, D.C. 20001 cfitzpatrick@jonesday.com
Telephone: (202) 662-6000
rwick@cov.com Michael P. Conway
110 N. Upper Wacker Dr.
Attorneys for Defendants JPMorgan Chase Chicago, IL 60606
Bank, N.A., and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC Telephone: (312) 269-4145
Fax: (312) 782-8585
mconway@jonesday.com
Attorneys for Defendants Wells Fargo Bank,
N.A., Wachovia Bank, N.A., Wells Fargo
Funds Management, LLC, and Wells Fargo
Securities LLC
WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE,
AND DORR LLP MEAGHER & FLOM LLP
By: Noah Levine* By: Boris Bershteyn*
Noah Levine Boris Bershteyn
Chris Johnstone Lara Flath
7 World Trade Center Kamali P. Willett
250 Greenwich Street One Manhattan West
New York, NY 10007 New York, NY 10001
Telephone: (212) 230-8800 Telephone: (212) 735-3000
noah.levine@wilmerhale.com Fax: (917) 777-3834
chris.johnstone@wilmerhale.com boris.bershteyn@skadden.com
lara.flath@skadden.com
Heather Nyong’o kamali.willett@skadden.com
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
650 California Street, Suite 2000 Gretchen Wolf
San Francisco, CA 94108 155 North Wacker Drive
Telephone: (650) 815-4140 Chicago, Illinois 60606
hnyongo@cgsh.com Telephone: (312) 407-0700
Fax: (312) 407-0411
Attorneys for Defendants Bank of America gretchen.wolf@skadden.com
Corporation, Bank of America, N.A., and
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Attorneys for Defendants Barclays Bank PLC
Incorporated (including as successor in and Barclays Capital Inc.
interest to Banc of America Securities LLC)
PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON & PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON &
GARRISON LLP GARRISON LLP
By: Susanna M. Buergel* By: Robert Y. Sperling*
Brad S. Karp Robert Y. Sperling
Susanna M. Buergel Staci Yablon
1285 Avenue of the Americas William B. Michael
New York, NY 10019-6064 1285 Avenue of the Americas
Telephone: (212) 373-3553 New York, NY 10019-6064
Fax: (212) 492-0553 Telephone: (212) 373-3396
bkarp@paulweiss.com Fax: (212) 492-4018
sbuergel@paulweiss.com syablon@paulweiss.com
rsperling@paulweiss.com
Kenneth A. Gallo wmichael@paulweiss.com
Jane B. O’Brien
Lina Dagnew Paul D. Brachman
2001 K Street, NW 2001 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-1047 Washington, DC 20006-1047
Telephone: (202) 223-7356 Telephone: (202) 223-7440
Fax: (202) 204-7356 Fax: (202) 379-4098
kgallo@paulweiss.com pbrachman@paulweiss.com
jobrien@paulweiss.com
ldagnew@paulweiss.com Attorneys for Defendant Goldman Sachs &
Co. LLC
Attorneys for Defendants Citigroup Inc.,
Citibank, N.A., Citigroup Global Markets
Inc., and Citigroup Global Markets Limited
O’MELVENY & MYERS LLP SHEARMAN & STERLING LLP
By: Sergei Zaslavsky* By: Adam S. Hakki*
Andrew J. Frackman Adam S. Hakki
Michael M. Klotz Grace J. Lee
7 Times Square 599 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10036 New York, NY 10022-6069
Telephone: (212) 326-2000 Telephone: (212) 848-4000
Facsimile: (212) 326-2061 Facsimile: (212) 848-7179
afrackman@omm.com adam.hakki@shearman.com
mklotz@omm.com grace.lee@shearman.com
Sergei Zaslavsky John F. Cove, Jr.
Adam Walker 535 Mission Street, 25th Floor
1625 Eye St, NW San Francisco, CA 94105-2997
Washington, D.C. 20006 Telephone: (415) 616-1100
Telephone: (202) 383-5300 Facsimile: (415) 616-1199
Facsimile: (202) 383-5414 john.cove@shearman.com
szaslavsky@omm.com
awalker@omm.com Attorneys for Defendants Morgan Stanley,
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Morgan
Attorneys for Defendants The Royal Stanley & Co. LLC, Morgan Stanley Capital
Bank of Canada and RBC Capital Markets, Group Inc.
LLC
* Signatures used with permission pursuant to S.D.N.Y. ECF Rule 8.5(b).
cc: All counsel of record (via ECF)
Exhibit 1
Document Request for Location of Requested Redactions or
Redactions or to Redactions Sealing
Seal in Full? Requested By
Reply Memorandum Redactions Page 2 Plaintiffs
of Law in Further
Support of
Page 3 Plaintiffs
Defendants’ Motion
Page 6 Plaintiffs
to Exclude Expert
Page 7 Plaintiffs
Testimony (Dkt. 424)
Exhibit 24 to the Redactions Page 10 Plaintiffs
Declaration of Page 11 Plaintiffs
Brandon Gould – Page 12 Plaintiffs
Reply Declaration of Page 15 Plaintiffs
Glenn Hubbard (Dkt. Page 16 Plaintiffs
425-1) Page 32 Defendants
Page 32 Plaintiffs
Page 34 Plaintiffs
Page 37 Plaintiffs
Page 38 Plaintiffs