United States v. All Funds on Deposit At

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: September 29, 2015
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2004-0798
• Status: Published

Opinion

FILED

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SEP 2 9 2015

FOR IHE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA C'erk’ US. District and

Bankruptcy Courts

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff,

V. Civil Action No. 1:04ucv-00798 (PLF)

ALL ASSETS HELD AT BANK JULIUS, Baer & Company, Ltd., Guernsey

Branch, account number 121 128, in the Name of Pavlo Lazarenko et al.,

Defendants In Rem.

_EMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER This matter is before the Court on the United States’ Motion For Leave to File Under Seal [Dkt 458]. The Court will grant the Motion subject to the conditions discussed

below.

Sealed court proceedings are inconsistent with “this country‘s strong tradition of access tojudicial proceedings." United States v. Ilubbard, 650 F.2d 293, 317 n. 89 (DC. Cir. 1980). As a general rule, the courts are not intended to be, nor should they be, secretive places for the resolution of secret disputes. m, Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978) (“It is clear that the courts of this country recognize a general right to inspect and copy public records and documents, including judicial records and documents”). Given the policy in favor of public access, and the ease with which confidential and potentially confidential

information may be redacted from documents before they are filed publicly, the Court concludes

that this case can and should be open to the public to the greatest extent possibie. For that reason:

1. All documents of any nature, including motions and briefs, that contain confidential material a party proposes to keep under seal shall be tiled with the Court under seal in an envelope or other container marked with the title of the action, the title of the court fiiing which contains the confidential material, and the statement “FILED UNDER SEAL” below the Court.

2. Within five business days, a party filing such a document with the Court shall also file on the public record a copy of the motion, brief, or other document in which the confidential material is redacted.

3. Redactions to public copies of documents shall be made solely to the extent necessary to preserve the confidentiality of the relevant information and in accordance with the principles set forth in this Memorandum Opinion and Order.

4. Alternatively, i'F——--—and only iii-mthe redactions are so extensive as to render a particular document useless to the reader, the party shall file on the public record a notice of the filing of the document under sea! in its entirety.

Accordingly, it is hereby

ORDERED that the United States’ Motion For Leave to File Under Seal [Dkt 458] is GRANTED; it is

FUR’I‘HER ORDERED that the United States” Motion For a Second Extension of Time to Respond to Claimant Pave! Lazarenko’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment ['Dkt.

458, Ex. A] may be filed under seal and the Cierk of the Court is directed to docket it; and it is

FURTl-VIER ORDERED that within five business days the United States shall file on the public record a copy ofits Motion For a Second Extension of Time to Respond to Claimant Pavel Lazarenko’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in which the confidential material is redacted.

SO ORI'DERl-BD.

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN DATE: / United States District Court ‘f lm\\ A