Opinion

In re Novartis and Par Antitrust Litigation

Court
District Court, S.D. New York
Filed
Jul 10, 2024
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 31.7%

“Documents falling into categories commonly sealed are those containing trade secrets, confidential research and development information, marketing plans, revenue information, pricing information, and the hke.”’

How later courts described this case

  • “Documents falling into categories commonly sealed are those containing trade secrets, confidential research and development information, marketing plans, revenue information, pricing information, and the hke.”’
  • “[t]he privacy interests of innocent third parties . .. should weigh heavily in a court’s balancing equation.”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

DOCUMENT

ELECTRONICALLY FILED

[) DOC #:

DATE FILED:__7/10/2024 □□□

DICELLO LEVITT

VIA ECF

Having found, for the reasons set forth by the EPPs, that a valid

Hon. Stewart D. Aaron basis exists for sealing the selected paragraphs, the motion to

Daniel Patrick Moynthan seal is GRANTED. SO ORDERED.

United States Courthouse Dated: July 10, 2024

500 Pearl St. Aer SF A~_

New York, NY 10007

Re: In re Novartis and Par Antitrust Litigation, No. 18-cv-4361-AKH (S.D.N.Y.)

Dear Magistrate Judge Aaron,

Pursuant to Rule HI(E) of Your Honor’s Individual Rules of Practice, we write on behalf of

End-Payor Plaintiffs (“EPPs”) requesting permission to file certain paragraphs outlined below in the

Declaration of Rebecca J. Evans of Angeion Group LLC Re: Fraud Detection, Deficiency Process,

& Distribution (the “Angeion Declaration’) under seal.

“Notwithstanding the presumption of public access to judicial records, courts may deny

access to records that are ‘sources of business information that might harm a litigant’s or non-party’s

competitive standing.” See In re Parmalat Sec. Litig., 258 F.R.D. 236, 244 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) (quoting

Nixon v. Warner Comme’ns, Ine, 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978)); see also Cumberland Packing Corp. v. Monstanto

Co., 184 F.R.D. 504, 506 (E.D.N.Y. 1999) (“Documents falling into categories commonly sealed are

those containing trade secrets, confidential research and development information, marketing plans,

revenue information, pricing information, and the hke.”’).

As this court recognized during the hearing on June 14, 2024, non-parties have a strong

interest in not having their materials be freely disclosed to the public when the specifically requested

material is produced in litigation to be kept confidential. See, ¢.g., United States v. Amodeo, 71 F.3d

1044, 1050-51 (2d Cir. 1995) (“[t]he privacy interests of innocent third parties . .. should weigh

heavily in a court’s balancing equation.”) (quoting Gardner v. Newsday, Inc. (In re Newsday, Inc.), 895

F.2d 74, 79-80 (2d Cir. 1990)); see also In re Savitt/ Adler Litig,, 1997 WL 797511, at *3 (N.D.N.Y. Aug.

5, 2003) (nonparties’ privacy interests comprise a “strong factor weighing against disclosure of their

identities”’).

Here, Angeion, a non-party, specifically requests in its Declaration that “the Court allow for

the redaction of the paragraphs in the . . . section entitled ‘Fraudulent Claim Filing’ (paras. 19-28), as

specific details regarding our anti-fraud efforts are discussed and, if disclosed, will undermine our

ability to combat fraudulent claim submissions by providing insight into the methods and techniques

employed by Angeion.” See Angeion Declaration at 418. In addition, those same paragraphs contain

proprietary details pertaining to AngeionAffirm, Angeion’s proprietary fraud detection system, that

are competitively sensitive and, if made publicly available, will be detrimental to Angeion’s business

in the marketplace. Alternatively, Angeion respectfully requests that the entire Angeion Declaration

| Page 2 of 2

be filed under seal. Id.

For these reasons, EPPs respectfully request that portions of the Angeion Declaration —

specifically paragraphs 19-28 — remain under seal. A redacted version will be filed on the docket.

EPPs and Angeion are available at the Court’s convenience should Your Honor have any questions.

Dated: July 8, 2024

Sincerely,

[s/ Gregory S. Asciolla

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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