The opinion
CONSTANTINE CANNON LLP | pocumMENT
ELECTRONICALLY FIL
Jeffrey I. Shinder NEW YORK | WAS! Oi
212-350-2709 DATE FILED:__ □□□□□□□□□
jshinder @constantinecannon.com
September 6, 2024
VIA ECF
The Honorable Margaret M. Garnett
United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York
Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse
40 Foley Square, Room 2102
New York, NY 10007
Re: World Association of Icehockey Players Unions North America Division, et al. v.
National Hockey League, et al., No. 24-cv-01066 (MMG)
Dear Judge Garnett:
Pursuant to Rule I(D)(3)Gi)-Gii) of Your Honor’s Individual Rules and Practices,
Plaintiffs submit this letter motion requesting that the Court permit Plaintiffs to provisionally file
under seal and redacted on the public docket: (1) portions of their memorandum opposing the
Major Junior Defendants’! motion to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds and (2) a partial
paragraph and certain exhibits to the Declaration of Judith Zahid submitted in support thereof.
The redacted memorandum and declaration and the sealed exhibits have been
contemporaneously filed on ECF under seal as ““Attorneys’ Eyes Only” and electronically related
to this letter motion.
The proposed sealed exhibits consist of: (1) documents the Major Junior Defendants
produced to Plaintiffs designated as “Highly Confidential Outside Attorneys’ Eyes Only,” and
(2) interrogatory responses designated as “Highly Confidential Outside Attorneys’ Eyes Only.”
The proposed redactions to Plaintiffs’ memorandum and the Zahid Declaration seek to protect
material that is quoted or paraphrased from those documents designated as Highly Confidential.
“Although ‘[t]he common law right of public access to judicial documents is firmly
rooted in our nation’s history,’ this right is not absolute, and courts ‘must balance competing
considerations against’ the presumption of access.” Order (June 26, 2024) (ECF 142) (quoting
Lugosch vy. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20 (2d Cir. 2006)). “Courts commonly
find that documents that contain trade secrets, confidential research and development
The “Major Junior Defendants” are the Canadian Hockey League (“CHL”), Dan MacKenzie, the Western Hockey
League (“WHL”) and all of the clubs that play in the WHL, the Ontario Hockey League (“OHL”) and all of the
clubs that play in the OHL, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (“QMJHL”) and all of the clubs that play
in the QMJHL.
43RD STREET, 26TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10017, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TELEPHONE: 212-350-2700 FACSIMILE: 212-350-2701 HTTP://WWW.CONSTANTINECANNON.COD
CONSTANTINE CANNON LLP
September 6, 2024
Page 2 NEW YORK | WASHINGTON | SAN FRANCISCO
information, marketing plans, revenue information, pricing information, and the like satisfy the
sealing standard.” Kewazinga Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 1:18-CV-4500-GHW, 2021 WL
1222122, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2021) (quoting Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. vy. Amazon.com,
Inc., 2019 WL 2918026, at *2 (N.D.N.Y. June 18, 2019)).
The parties have agreed to treat all discovery produced prior to entry of a protective order
in this matter as Highly Confidential on a provisional basis. The parties are actively negotiating
the terms of a proposed protective order to submit to the Court in short order.
On September 5 and 6, 2024, counsel for the Plaintiffs and the Major Junior Defendants
conferred regarding the proper treatment of documents designated as “Highly Confidential
Outside Attorneys’ Eyes Only” by the Major Junior Defendants. The parties agreed to
provisionally submit the documents under seal and/or redacted in accordance with their assigned
confidentiality designations, pending the Major Junior Defendants’ review of the confidential
information in context and/or entry of any protective order governing the use of confidential
information.
Accordingly, Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court grant this letter motion to file
under seal and redacted on the public docket: (1) the designated portions of Plaintiffs’ opposition
memorandum to the Major Junior Defendants motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) and (2) the designated portions of Paragraph 5 and Exhibits 1-11 and 13
of the Zahid Declaration in support thereof.
Sincerely,
/s/ Jeffrey I. Shinder
Jeffrey I. Shinder
The request to file the specified documents in redacted form an
under seal is provisionally GRANTED. Within seven days of
the entry of a protective order, if any party seeks to continue
the redactions or sealing of some or all of the specified
ec: All counsel of record (via ECF) documents, the party seeking to do so must provide the Court, |
letter-motion, with the basis for continuing the redactions or
sealing as to each of the requested documents.
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate Dkt. No. 178.
SO ORDERED. Date 9/10/2024
HON. MA . GARNETT
U.S. DISTHNC@T GE