Kind Bar Plaintiffs v. Kind Bar Defendants

Filing 250

ORDER granting 246 Letter Motion to Seal. Application granted. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on 4/4/2022) (mml)

Mayer Brown LLP
350 South Grand Avenue
25th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-1503
United States of America
T: [phone]
F: [phone]

April 1, 2022

mayerbrown.com

VIA ECF

Keri E. Borders

Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald
United States District Judge
Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse
Southern District of New York
500 Pearl St.
New York, New York 10007
Re:

Partner
T: [phone]
F: [phone]
[e-mail]

In re Kind LLC Healthy and All Natural Litig., No. 1:15-md-2645-NRB
In re Kind LLC Healthy and All Natural Litig., No. 1:15-mc-2645-NRB

Dear Judge Buchwald:
Pursuant to Your Honor’s Individual Practices § 2(H), Your Honor’s Standing Order, the
Southern District of New York’s Local Rules, and Section 6 of the Southern District’s Electronic
Case Filing Rules & Instructions, Defendant KIND LLC (“KIND”) respectfully submits this
request to file under seal an unredacted version of KIND’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Statement of
Genuine Issues of Fact. The Viewing Level for this document will be for “Selected Parties.”
KIND also requests to file a redacted version of the same document as a publicly available filing.
In accordance with the Individual Practices of this Court, an unredacted version of
KIND’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Statement of Genuine Issues of Fact—along with a redacted
version of this document—is being filed contemporaneously with this request. Copies of this
letter and the unredacted and redacted version of the document shall be contemporaneously
mailed to Your Honor.
In this action, the parties are subject to a Stipulated Protective Order approved by Judge
William Pauley. ECF No. 158. Under the terms of that Order, a party may designate as
“Confidential” or “Highly Confidential” material or information that the party “reasonably and in
good faith believes constitutes and reveals confidential trade secrets, proprietary business
information, and/or non-public personal, client, or customer information concerning individuals
or other entities” (id. ¶ 2.3), provided that the designating party “shall take care to limit any such
designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards.” Id. ¶ 5.1. Properly
designated Confidential or Highly Confidential material may not be disclosed publicly under the
terms of the Order (id. ¶¶ 7.1-7.3) and must instead be filed under seal pursuant to Your Honor’s
Individual Practices. Id. ¶ 12.3.
The information that KIND seeks to file under seal, and which has been designated as
“Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” under the terms of the Stipulated Protective
Order, are the portions of the response which reference exhibits which contain highly
confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information regarding ingredients of KIND products
Mayer Brown is a global services provider comprising an association of legal practices that are separate entities including
Mayer Brown LLP (Illinois, USA), Mayer Brown International LLP (England), Mayer Brown (a Hong Kong partnership)
and Tauil & Chequer Advogados (a Brazilian partnership).

Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald
Page 2
and their properties, internal procedures for manufacture of products with those ingredients,
manufacture and sourcing information, and supplier information.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) authorizes district courts, upon a showing of good
cause, to “require that the parties simultaneously file specified documents or information in
sealed envelopes, to be opened as the court directs.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(H). “Documents
may be sealed if specific, on the record findings are made demonstrating that closure is essential
to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.” Lugosch v. Pyramid Co.
of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 120 (2d Cir. 2006) (internal quotations and alterations omitted).
Here, KIND seeks leave to publicly file this response with all references to Highly
Confidential information redacted, and to file a wholly unredacted version of this document
under seal. This request is narrowly tailored in that it relates only to information from documents
designated by KIND as Highly Confidential pursuant to the Stipulated Protective Order and will
allow portions of the response to be sealed only to the extent necessary to protect KIND’s
business interests and commercially sensitive business information.
This Court has previously granted KIND’s and plaintiffs’ request to file documents with
virtually the identical information under seal. See ECF Nos. 262, 289.
Based on the foregoing, KIND respectfully requests that: (i) the Court approve this
request to file a document under seal pursuant to Your Honor’s Individual Practices § 2(H);
(ii) the redacted version of KIND’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Statement of Genuine Issues of Fact
be accepted as the public version to be electronically filed; and (iii) that the Court grant KIND
leave to file an unredacted version of the same under seal.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Keri E. Borders

Application granted.

Keri E. Borders
Partner
cc:

All Counsel of Record via ECF
Dated: New York, New York
April 4, 2022