Z.Q. v. New York City Department of Education

• Court: District Court, S.D. New York
• Decided: April 23, 2025
• Docket: 1:20-cv-09866
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

S P atte rson www.pbwt.com Belknap Application granted. The Clerk of Court is respectfully requested to terminate ECF 277. April 22, 2025 Date: April 22, 2025 SO ORDERED New York, NY Aer” ’ (svt ROBYN F. TARNOFSKY VIA ECF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Hon. Robyn F. Tarnofsky United States District Court for the Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 Re: □□□ □□ New York City Dep’t of Educ. et al, No. 20-cv-09866 (S.D.N.Y.) Dear Judge Tarnofsky, Pursuant to Section III(E) of Your Honor’s Individual Practices in Civil Cases, Plaintiffs respectfully request that they be permitted to file under seal portions of the parties’ signed stipulation regarding the withdrawal of Plaintiffs A.W. and J.W. as named class representatives and the dismissal without prejudice of the individual claims of A.W. and J.W. (“Stipulation”). The portions of the Stipulation that Plaintiffs seek to have sealed contain information related to A.W.’s and J.W.’s identities—specifically, A.W.’s full name and A.W.’s and J.W.’s home address. This Court has already granted a virtually identical request for sealing this information. See ECF No. 268. As reflected in Rule 5.2(a) of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and relevant federal laws, it is appropriate to shield the identifies of children and their parents, as well as related personally identifying information, from disclosure on the public docket. See Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 5.2(a): 20 U.S.C. §1417(c), and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. §1232g. This is particularly true in the context of special education cases, in which minors and their parents are routinely excused from listing their full names and other identifying information in the case captions and other filings. See MH. v. New York City Dep't of Educ., 685 F.3d 217 (2d Cir. 2012); see also TK. v. New York City Dep't of Educ., 810 F.3d 869 (2d Cir. 2016); C.O. v. New York City Dep't of Educ., No. 21-CV-3 (JGK), 2024 WL 4979293 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 3, 2024); P.L. v. New York Dep't of Educ., 56 F. Supp. 3d 147 (E.D.N.Y. 2014); see also Dasler v. Washburn, No. 23-1156, 2024 WL 1787123, at *3 (2d Cir. Apr. 25, 2024), cert. denied, No. 24-6530, 2025 WL 951197 (U.S. Mar. 31, 2025) (directing the Clerk of the Court to seal from public view documents which included a minor’s full name). This is commonly done in the context of special education. Consistent with this well-established policy, the interests of children and their parents in maintaining their privacy far outweighs any interest the public could conceivably have in the disclosure of their identities. See Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110 (2d Cir. 2006); Bernstein v. Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP, 814 F.3d 132 (2d Ci. 2016).

Here, although the Stipulation is a judicial document, and thus subject to a presumption of public access, the privacy interests of A.W. and J.W. in maintaining confidentiality over their identities outweigh the presumption of access. See Lugosch, 435 F.3d at 119–20. A.W.’s and J.W.’s privacy interests are particularly acute in this case, where plaintiffs had sued the school system in which J.W. is still enrolled. See Bernstein 814 F.3d at 143. Further, any public interest in the material Plaintiffs wish to seal—the identifying information of A.W. and J.W.—is minimal. See id. And most of the information within the Stipulation will be left unredacted on the public record. Plaintiffs only seek to redact A.W.’s full name and A.W.’s and J.W.’s home address. This limited set of redactions, narrowly tailored to just the portions of the Stipulation that could be used to identify A.W. and J.W., is consistent with the measured approach counseled by Lugosch and Bernstein. Plaintiffs communicated with counsel for Defendants on April 17 and April 18, notifying Defendants of our intent to file the Stipulation under seal. Defendants indicated that they will not oppose. For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court grant Plaintiffs request to file the redacted portions of the Stipulation under seal. Respectfully submitted, By: /s/ Joshua Kipnees Joshua Kipnees PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER LLP 1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Rebecca C. Shore ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN OF NEW YORK 151 West 30th Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10001 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Exhibit A

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Z.Q., et al., on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, 20-CV-9866 (JAV) (RFT) Plaintiffs, -against- NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants.

STIPULATION REGARDING WITHDRAWAL OF PLAINTIFFS A.W. AND J.W. AS NAMED CLASS REPRESENTATIVES AND DISMISSAL WITHOUT PREJDUICE OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED, by Plaintiffs and Defendants, through authorized counsel below, and pro se Plaintiffs A.W. and J.W. that (1) Plaintiffs A.W. and J.W. in the above-captioned case hereby withdraw as named representatives of the proposed classand subclasses, and (2) the individual claims asserted by Plaintiffs A.W. and J.W. in this caseare voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. Dated: April 18, 2025 MURIEL GOODE-TRUFANT PRO SE PLAINTIFFS A.W. AND J.W. Corporation Counsel of the City of New York

BY Jeffrey S. Dantowitz Al Vi Assistant Corporation Counsel ee City of New York Ld 100 Church Street, Room 2-178 New York, NY 10007 (212) 356-0876 PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER jdantowi@law.nyc.gov LLP Attorney for Defendants By: /s/ Joshua Kipnees Joshua Kipnees Kathryn Bi 1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 (212) 336-2000 jkipnees@pbwt.com kbi@pbwt.com

ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN OF NEW YORK, INC.

By: Rebrereem Shore Rebecca C. Shore 151 West 30th Street, 5 Floor New York, NY 10001 (212) 947-9779 rshore@advocatesforchildren.org Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Dated: April, 2025 MURIEL GOODE-TRUFANT PRO SE PLAINTIFFS A.W. AND J.W. Corporation Counsel of the City of New York

By: By: Jeffrey S. Dantowitz Assistant Corporation Counsel City of New York 100 Church Street, Room 2-178 New York, NY 10007 (212) 356-0876 PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER jdantowi@law.nyc.gov LLP Attorney for Defendants Bye gt ee ee Joshua Kipnees Kathryn Bi 1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 (212) 336-2000 jkipnees@pbwt.com kbi@pbwt.com

By: Rebecca C. Shore 151 West 30th Street, 5 Floor New York, NY 10001 (212) 947-9779 rshore@advocatesforchildren.org Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Dated: April {, 2025 MURIEL GOODE-TRUFANT PRO SE PLAINTIFFS A.W. AND J.W. Corporation, Counsel of the City of New York / i ff Uh By: 1A iz Sho we iw liv By: Jeffrey 3. Daritowi AZ i Corporation Counsel City of New York 100 Church Street, Room 2-178 New York, NY 10007 (212) 356-0876 PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER jdantowi@law.nyc,.gov LLP Attorney for Defendants

Joshua Kipnees Kathryn Bi 1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 (212) 336-2000 ikipnees(@pbwt.com kbi@pbwt.com

By Rebecca C. Shore 151 West 30th Street, 5" Floor New York, NY 10001 (212) 947-9779 rshore@advocatesforchildren.org Attorneys for Plaintiffs