Green v. Cosby

314 F.R.D. 164, 94 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 160, 2016 WL 1086716, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35834
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 21, 2016
DocketMISCELLANEOUS ACTION No. 16-00002
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 314 F.R.D. 164 (Green v. Cosby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Cosby, 314 F.R.D. 164, 94 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 160, 2016 WL 1086716, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35834 (E.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

ANITA B. BRODY, District Judge

Plaintiffs Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, and Angela Leslie brought suit against Defendant William H. Cosby, Jr. in the United States District Coui*t for the District of Massachusetts (“Massachusetts District Court”) for alleged defamation, invasion of privacy (false light), and intentional infliction of emotional distress (“Green Litigation”). Third Am. Compl., Green v. Cosby, No. 14-30211 (D.Mass. Nov. 13, 2015), ECF No. 109 [hereinafter Third. Am. Compl.]. On December 2,2015, Plaintiffs served a subpoena on attorney Dolores Troiani to produce her case file in the Con-stand Litigation.1 Cosby moves this Court to [167]*167quash the subpoena.2 Intervenor American Media, Inc. (“AMI”) also moves this Court to quash or modify the subpoena. For the reasons set forth below, I will grant in part and deny in part Cosby’s motion to quash the subpoena, and I will grant AMI’s motion to quash or modify the subpoena.

1. BACKGROUND

A. The Constand Litigation and Criminal Prosecution

In 2005, attorney Troiani represented Andrea Constand who filed suit against Cosby for alleged battery, assault, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation/defamation per se, and false light/invasion of privacy in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (“Eastern District of Pennsylvania”). Compl., Constand v. Cosby, No. 05-1099 (E.D.Pa. Mar. 8, 2005), ECF No. 1. In that action, Constand alleged that Cosby drugged her and then sexually assaulted her. Id. After Constand reported the sexual assault, Cosby allegedly made false statements to the media about Constand. Id.

In 2006, Constand filed another suit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against The National Enquirer (a media brand owned and operated by Intervenor AMI) and Martin Singer (Cosby’s attorney) for defamation/defamation per se and false light/invasion of privacy. Compl., Constand v. Singer, No. 06-483 (E.D.Pa. Feb. 1, 2006), ECF No. 1. Constand’s two lawsuits were consolidated before Judge Eduardo C. Robreno (collectively, the “Constand Litigation”). Id., ECF No. 30.

During the course of the Constand Litigation, the parties conducted discovery regarding other women’s accusations that Cosby had sexually assaulted them. See Constand v. Cosby, 232 F.R.D. 494 (E.D.Pa.2006). On November 4, 2005, the Constand Court entered an interim order (“Sealing Order”) temporarily sealing several documents on the docket, pending a full hearing on whether the documents should be permanently sealed.3 Case Mgmt. Order 2, Constand v. Cosby, No. 05-1099 (E.D.Pa. Nov. 4, 2005), ECF No. 47; see also Constand v. Cosby, 112 F.Supp.3d 308, 310 (E.D.Pa.2015). Before the Constand Court ruled on whether to permanently seal the documents, the parties to the Constand Litigation settled. Constand v. Cosby, 112 F.Supp.3d at 310.

In October 2006, the parties to the Con-stand Litigation entered into the Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release (“CSA”). The confidentiality provisions of the CSA provide, in relevant part:

CONSTAND, COSBY, SINGER, AMERICAN MEDIA, GIANNA CONSTAND, ANDREW CONSTAND, and their undersigned counsel acknowledge COSBY’S, SINGER’S, and AMERICAN MEDIA’S interests in not permitting others (a) to know (i) the outcome or the underlying facts of the LITIGATION, or (ii) the terms of this Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release, (b) to learn more about CONSTAND’s allegations or their defenses other than what is already a matter of public record, via their pleadings, or published press reports (c) to learn the information gathered and generated in the course of discovery in the LITIGATION, or (d) to gain access to the motions and briefs currently filed under seal in the LITIGATION. They also acknowledge that CONSTAND, COSBY, SINGER, and AMERICAN MEDIA enter into this Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release to protect those interests. Accordingly. ..:
A. CONSTAND, COSBY, SINGER, AMERICAN MEDIA, GIANNA CONSTAND, ANDREW CON-STAND, and their undersigned coun[168]*168sel agree, as of August 23, 2006, not to disclose to anyone, via written or oral communication or by disclosing a document, in private or public, any aspect of this LITIGATION, including, but not limited to:
1. the events or allegations upon which the LITIGATION was based;
2. allegations made about COSBY or CONSTAND by other persons;
3. the information that they learned during the criminal investigation of COSBY or discovery in the LITIGATION, including, but not limited to, allegations made by other women concerning COSBY, the content of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s and the Cheltenham Township Police Department’s files from the criminal investigation of COSBY, and the content of COSBY’S and CONSTAND’s depositions in the LITIGATION, and information about COSBY or CON-STAND gathered by their agents.
C. CONSTAND, COSBY, SINGER, AMERICAN MEDIA, GIANNA CONSTAND, ANDREW CON-STAND, and their undersigned counsel agree not to disclose this Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release or any of its terms and condition..,, unless such disclosure is.. .in response to a valid subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
* * *
The confidentiality provisions... are a material inducement to each of the parties hereto to enter this Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release, and each of the parties and the party’s undersigned counsel acknowledges that in entering this Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release, each party is expressly relying [on] each other party’s agreement to abide by the confidentiality provisions____

Def.’s Mot. Quash Ex. 2 ¶ 3.

Almost nine years after the parties had entered into the CSA, the Associated Press moved to intervene in the Constand Litigation and requested that all of the documents on the docket be unsealed and made available to the public. Constand v. Cosby, 112 F.Supp.3d at 309-10. On July 6, 2015, the Constand Court granted the Associated Press’s motion and unsealed the documents. Id. at 319. First, the court examined the November 4, 2005 Sealing Order that sealed the documents and concluded that “[t]he Documents are not technically sealed at this time, given that the Court initially sealed them temporarily in its efforts to resolve the outstanding discovery disputes, and indicated that the temporary seal would lapse if not definitively extended.” Id. at 314 n.8. The Constand Court then refused to keep the documents sealed because Cosby had not demonstrated good cause for a pi'otective order. Id. at 319. Cosby appealed the Con-stand Court’s decision to unseal the documents. The appeal is currently pending in the Third Circuit. See Constand v. Cosby, No. 15-2797 (3d Cir. July 29, 2015).

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Bluebook (online)
314 F.R.D. 164, 94 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 160, 2016 WL 1086716, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-cosby-paed-2016.