Giuffre v. Maxwell

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 19, 2020
Docket1:15-cv-07433
StatusUnknown

This text of Giuffre v. Maxwell (Giuffre v. Maxwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Giuffre v. Maxwell, (S.D.N.Y. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK VIRGINIA L. GIUFFRE Plaintiff, 15 Civ. 7433 (LAP) -against- ORDER GHISLAINE MAXWELL, Defendant.

LORETTA A. PRESKA, Senior United States District Judge: The Court has considered the parties’ various submissions regarding the review protocol (“the Protocol”) to be utilized by the Court in its individualized review of the sealed materials at issue in this litigation. (See dkt. nos. 1025, 1026, 1028, 1029, 1030.) The Court rules as follows: 1. Decided Motions: The parties disputed whether two motions (dkt. nos. 468, 567) were actually decided by Judge Sweet and thus disagreed as to whether they should be included on the list of materials to be reviewed by the Court. After reviewing those items, the Court determines that they were ruled on by Judge Sweet and thus should be included in the Court’s individualized review.

2. List of Non-Parties: The parties disagreed as to the scope of the list of non-parties that should receive notice of unsealing. Specifically, Plaintiff suggested that non- parties “discussed in materials that have already been unsealed in this litigation [or] in otherwise unsealed materials that are included in sealed filings” should not be required to receive notice. (See dkt. no. 1026.) The Court disagrees. Because a subsequent naming of a non-party in the sealed materials may carry a different context from the naming of that non-party in the unsealed materials, the unsealing may present different consequences for the relevant non- party. Thus, the Court will adopt the more fulsome list provided by Defendants, which strikes the names of reporters, Plaintiff’s medical providers, and law enforcement personnel but retains all other potentially relevant non-parties. (See dkt. no. 1028.)

3. Definition of “Best Efforts”: The Protocol will employ a broader definition of “best efforts” than the one proposed by Plaintiff. (See dkt. no. 1026.) The Court agrees with Defendant that Plaintiff’s proposed definition, which would only require a search of public records databases for the addresses of non-parties, is “too wooden.” (See dkt. nos. 1026, 1028.) Accordingly, the Protocol will require the parties to “identify[] the most current address available for [a non-party] in a public records database or other readily available source.” This will ensure that the notice to non- parties is “the best practicable under the circumstances.” Guevoura Fund Ltd. v. Sillerman, 2019 WL 6889901, at *11 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 18, 2019).

4. Notice of Appellate Rights: The Protocol will include the provision notifying non-parties of their appellate rights with respect to any decision to unseal a document mentioning their name. That provision will provide that “[a]n order from this Court unsealing the Sealed Materials, in whole or in part, as to a Non-Party should be deemed to have affected the Non-Party’s rights and interests for purposes of an appeal.” (See dkt. no. 1030.)

5. Right of Reply: The Protocol will permit reply briefing both for objecting parties and objecting non-parties.

6. Evidentiary Hearings: The Court will allow the parties or non-parties to request by letter that the Court hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve any factual issues underlying the unsealing of specific documents. Any such request shall explain why an evidentiary hearing is necessary for the resolution of those factual issues.

7. Judicial Documents: In their submissions to the Court, non- parties and the original parties may object to the unsealing of a court submission because it is, in their view, a non- judicial document. Non-parties and the original parties should, in their submissions, also address the weight of the presumption of public access that applies to any such document in the event that the Court concludes that it is, in fact, a judicial document. The Court attaches to this order its proposed revisions to the Protocol,+ the Notice to Non-Parties, the Non—Party Request for Excerpts, and the Non-Party Form Objection.* The parties shall confer and inform the Court by letter no later than March 26, 2020 of any additional changes that the Court should consider to the Protocol or to the Notice to Non-Parties, the Non—Party Request for Excerpts, and the Non-Party Objection. The Court specifically requests the parties’ input as to reviewing the documents by Non- Party rather than by motion. In that letter, the parties shall also propose a date for a telephonic conference to discuss next steps in the unsealing process. SO ORDERED.

Dated: New York, New York March 19, 2020

LORETTA A. PRESKA Senior United States District Judge

1 Specifically, the Court attaches an edited version of the Protocol submitted by Plaintiff with her January 30, 2020 letter. (See dkt. no. 1026 at Ex. 1.) 2 The Court attaches edited versions of the materials submitted by Defendant with her January 30, 2020 letter. (See dkt. no. 1025.)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

VIRGINIA L. GIUFFRE, Plaintiff, v. No. 15-cv-07433-LAP GHISLAINE MAXWELL, Defendant.

Order and Protocol for Unsealing Decided Motions The Court previously ruled that “only motions actually decided by Judge Sweet—along with documents relevant to Judge Sweet’s decisions on those motions—are properly considered judicial documents to which a presumption of public access attaches.” Order, dated Dec. 16, 2019 (DE 1016). Such materials are referred to herein as the “Sealed Materials” or “Sealed Items.” The Sealed Materials will be enumerated in a List of Decided Motions designated by the Court . In accordance with Brown v. Maxwell, 929 F.3d 41, 49-51 (2d Cir. 2019), the Court will conduct an individualized review of each Sealed Item in the List of Decided Motions to determine (a) the weight of presumption of public access that should be afforded to the document, (b) the identification and weight of any countervailing interests supporting continued sealing/redaction, and (c) whether the countervailing interests rebut the presumption of public access. To assist in this process and afford persons identified or otherwise interested in the Sealed Materials the opportunity to participate in the Court’s individualized review, the Court adopts the following protocol. 1. Non-Parties List: Plaintiff Virginia Giuffre and Defendant Ghislaine Maxwell (collectively, the “Original Parties”) each have submitted under seal a list of non-parties whose privacy, reputational or other interests may be implicated by the unsealing of the Sealed Materials (each, a “Non-Party,” and collectively, the “Non-Parties”). Because the Original Parties did not agree on one or more Non-Parties to be included in the list, the Court has resolved all such disagreements and shall issue to the Original Parties a Court-approved Non-Parties List, which shall be sealed. The Non-Parties shall include but are not limited to: (a) persons who produced or answered discovery based upon the representation or understanding that the discovery would be subject to the Protective Order previously issued in this action; (b) persons who are identified as having allegedly engaged in sexual acts with Plaintiff, or other alleged victims, or allegedly facilitated such acts; (c) persons whose intimate, sexual, or private conduct is described in the Sealed Materials; and (d) persons who are alleged to have been victimized. The Non-Parties List will:

• Identify each Non-Party by his or her name, which correlates to a unique pseudonymous identifier, i.e., Doe #1, Doe #2, and Doe #3. • Provide the address or contact information for each Non-Party or his or her legal counsel, which the Original Parties identified to the best of their ability. 2.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brown v. Maxwell Dershowitz v. Giuffre
929 F.3d 41 (Second Circuit, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Giuffre v. Maxwell, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/giuffre-v-maxwell-nysd-2020.