Tag: seal

The Difficulty With Sealing Documents

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In several blog posts I have discussed efforts to seal arbitration awards and arbitration materials in court proceedings to confirm or vacate an arbitration award. But that is not the only circumstance where a party will ask the court to seal purportedly confidential or proprietary documents. In motion practice, particularly motions for summary judgment, information and exhibits may be filed under seal because of alleged confidentiality or because the documents contain allegedly sensitive business information that could put the party at a competitive disadvantage.

In a recent case, a party moving for summary judgment sought to seal documents in a variety of categories, including reinsurance-related documents. Given the court’s hesitancy to seal documents from the public, can you guess the outcome?

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Arbitration Award Confirmed In the Face of Recapture and Request to Seal Is Denied

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Parties to reinsurance arbitrations often file in court to confirm (or vacate) arbitral awards. Some file even though the adverse party has complied with the arbitration award. When doing so, they invariably invoke the confidentiality agreement in the proceeding to seal the award and other related documents used in the petition to confirm. Must the court confirm and must the court seal the documents? We have seen this movie before.

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ARIAS US Form Plays Major Role in Court’s Decision to Seal Documents

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Whether courts will seal reinsurance arbitration documents when the parties come to court for judicial relief has been a significant topic for several years. Most courts refuse to seal arbitration information when motions to vacate or confirm an arbitration award are made. But when the controversy is over whether arbitration should be compelled, sometimes the result is different. In a recent case, the court agreed to seal arbitration-related documents in large part because of the ARIAS U.S. confidentiality agreement.

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So Much for Confidentiality – Reinsurance Arbitration Award Unsealed

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Traditionally, all aspects of reinsurance arbitrations were considered confidential, including the arbitration award. Most reinsurance arbitrations today still include agreement on a confidentiality order. Nevertheless, when one of the parties to a reinsurance arbitration goes to court to either confirm, modify or vacate the final award, a tension arises between accessing the public court system and maintaining confidentiality. Over the last several years, multiple courts have addressed that tension by unsealing arbitration awards.

In a recent case, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, followed this trend and unsealed what was a confidential arbitration award. This time at the request of a reinsurer that was not a party to the award.

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