Ortega v. Richard N. Ash Center, M.D., P.C.

Opinion

KRANTZ & BERMANur Larry H. Krantz Lisa A. Cahill Marjorie E. Berman Rebecca $. Campbell Hugh D, Sandler Of Counsel Jerrold L. Steigman □□ Ainsley C. Dowling Writer's E-mail adowling@krantzberman.c July 23, 2025 Application granted. VIA ECF The Clerk of Court is respectfully requested to seal ECF 22 The Honorable Robyn F. Tarnofsky with access to Case Participants and Court Personnel only United States Magistrate Judge and to terminate ECF 26. SO ORDERED Southern District of New York ( swan 500 Pearl St. Date: July 23, 2025 ROBYN F. TARNOFSKY New York, NY 10007 New York, NY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUI Re: Ortega v. Richard N. Ash Center, M_D., P.C., et al., 1:24 —cv-03399-JAV-RFT — Letter Request to Seal ECF Doc No. 22 Dear Judge Tarnofsky: Pursuant to Rule 5.2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule II(E) of Your Honor’s Individual Practices in Civil Cases, Plaintiff Jorge A. Rodriguez Ortega respectfully moves for an order to seal Plaintiffs July 16, 2025 letter (ECF Doc No. 22 (“July 16" Letter”)). This cases arises from a wage and hour dispute in which Plaintiff has asserted claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) for unpaid overtime wages. In March 2025, the parties reached a settlement in principle, and spent months negotiating the settlement agreement and preparing a joint request for court approval under Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc., 796 F.3d 199 (2d Cir. 2005). However, earlier this month, before the parties executed the agreement settlement negotiations stalled. After attempts at resolution by the parties failed, Plaintiff submitted the July 16 Letter requesting a court conference. By way of setting forth the issue for which court assistance was needed, the July 16" Letter provided details of the settlement in principle, including the settlement amount and other agreed upon benefits. Because we understand courts in this Circuit to disfavor sealing and/or redacting FLSA settlement agreements and settlement amounts given the strong presumption of public access to such information, we did not file the July 16" Letter under seal or in redacted form. See Olano v. Designs by RJR, Lid., 2017 WL 4460771 (“the overwhelming majority of courts in this Circuit that have analyzed the propriety of redacting FLSA settlement amounts or filing FLSA settlement agreements under seal have disapproved of those requests”). However, after we filed the July 16% Letter, counsel received an email from Your Honor’s Chambers suggesting that we submit a request to seal the July 16" Letter, because it contained settlement information that was deemed confidential and that should not be on the docket. Accordingly, Plaintiff files this request to seal the July 16" Letter (ECF No. 22).

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The Honorable Robyn F. Tarnofsky July 23, 2025 Page 2 Respectfully submitted, (hay Ainsley C. Dowling

Cc: Marjorie E. Berman