City of Providence, Rhode Island v. Bats Global Markets, Inc.

• Court: District Court, S.D. New York
• Decided: January 10, 2022
• Docket: 1:14-cv-02811
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X : CITY OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, et al., : : Plaintiffs, : : 14-CV-2811 (JMF) -v- : : ORDER BATS GLOBAL MARKETS, INC., et al., : : Defendants. : : ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X

JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge: On December 21, 2021, Francine McKenna, an independent journalist, filed a letter “petitioning” to “remove the temporary Confidential Treatment” for certain documents filed in this case. See ECF No. 796 (“McKenna Letter”), at 2-3. Members of the press or public seeking access to judicial documents under seal must first file a motion to intervene in the case. See In re Pineapple Antitrust Litig., No. 04-MD-1628 (RMB) (MHD), 2015 WL 5439090, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2015) (“The courts have repeatedly recognized that members of the press (and other non-parties) may seek to pursue modification of confidentiality orders that have led to the sealing of documents filed with the court, and that the appropriate procedural mechanism to do so is a motion to intervene.”); id. (describing “intervention” as “a step preliminary to determining whether any sealed documents should be disclosed”); Diversified Grp., Inc. v. Daugerdas, 217 F.R.D. 152, 157 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) (“It is well-settled that intervention pursuant to Rule 24(b) is the proper procedure for a third party to seek to modify a protective order in a private suit.”). Because McKenna appears to be proceeding pro se, the Court will construe her letter to be a motion to intervene under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(b) for the purposes of challenging the Court’s temporary sealing orders. See, e.g., Pasiak v. Onondaga Cmty. Coll., No. 16-CV-1376 (TJM), 2018 WL 6591572, at *3 (N.D.N.Y. Dec. 14, 2018) (construing a pro se journalist’s letter-motion as a motion to intervene); cf’ Cruz v. Gomez, 202 F.3d 593, 597 (2d Cir. 2000) (“[C]ourts must construe pro se pleadings broadly, and interpret them to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest.”). Any opposition to McKenna’s motion to intervene and to unseal shall be filed no later than January 18, 2022. Additionally, no later than January 12, 2022, Plaintiffs shall file an amended list of the filings that they seek to have made public in connection with their motion to unseal, see ECF No. 776, which shall include the ECF numbers of the relevant filings. Specifically, Plaintiffs shall add a column to the table in Appendix A attached as Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Steven M. Jodlowski, ECF No. 779-1, listing the ECF number for each filing. The Clerk of Court is directed to mail a copy of this Order to Francine McKenna at the return address provided in her letter. See McKenna Letter 10.

SO ORDERED. Dated: January 10, 2022 New York, New York ESSE RMAN nited States District Judge