Tavenner v. International Business Machines Corp.

Filing 19

ORDER granting 12 Letter Motion to Seal. You may file the full brief under seal. You MUST file a redacted brief publicly so that portions that does not contain confidential information are publicly available.. (Signed by Judge Colleen McMahon on 11/1/2021) (kv)

Case 1:21-cv-06345-CM Document 12 Filed 10/28/21 Page 1 of 2

L I C H T E N & L I S S - R I O R D A N , P. C.
HAROLD L. LICHTEN•
SH ANN ON LISS -RIORDAN•>'°
SARI\H SCHALMAN-BERGEN•
MATTHEW W. THOMSON•
ADELAIDE H . PAGANO•

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

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October 28, 2021

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Hon. Colleen McMahon
Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse
500 Pearl St. , Room 2550
New York , NY 10007-1312

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Tavenner v. International~~u~i- ~s Ma~hin~s Corp., C.A. No. 1:21-cv-06345
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Dear Chief Judge McMahon:

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I represent Plaintiff in the above-referenced matter. Pursuant to Section 6 of the ~✓
Southern District of New York's Electronic Case Filing Rules & Instructions, Plaintiff
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seeks permission to file her Motion for Summary Judgment under seal, along with the (!Jl
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accompanying Declaration of Shannon Liss-Riordan and exhibits . Plaintiff will also
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publicly file a redacted version of these documents , with all information that the parties
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agree is non-confidential unredacted .
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The reason for this request is that Defendant IBM contends that these
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documents contain information that falls under the scope of the confidentiality
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agreement contained within IBM 's arbitration agreement (see Exhibit 2 to Liss-Riordan
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Deel.) , which is the subject of Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment. As explained
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extensively in the Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff does not believe that IBM 's
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confidentiality provision in its arbitration agreement should be enforced . Plaintiff further ~~)},
believes that these documents should be publicly filed . In particular, Plaintiff notes
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Section VI of Your Honor's Individual Practices and Procedures requires parties to
include the following in proposed Stipulation and Confidentiality Orders :

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It has been this Court's consistent experience that confidentiality stipulations are
abused by parties and that much material that is not truly confidential is
designated as such . The Court does not intend to be a party to such practices.
The Court operates under a presumption that the entire record should be publicly
available.

Case 1:21-cv-06345-CM Document 12 Filed 10/28/21 Page 2 of 2

LI C HT E N & LI S S - RI O RD AN , P. C.

Nevertheless, until IBM has had the opportunity to respond, Plaintiff requests
that, at least preliminarily, these documents be permitted to be filed under seal , with
redacted versions filed publicly (for which the portions of the papers that IBM concedes
are not confidential will not be redacted) .
Plaintiff requests further that Your Honor order IBM to submit a letter explaining
its position on why the redacted information should remain out of public view while the
Court considers Plaintiff's underlying Motion for Summary Judgment. Other judges in
this District require such a filing within three (3) business days, and Plaintiff requests
that IBM be ordered to file such a letter here as well within three (3) business days.

Sincerely,
/s/ Shannon Liss-Riordan
Shannon Liss-Riordan
Attorney for Plaintiff

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on October 28 , 2021 , a true and accurate copy of the
foregoing document was filed via this Court's CM/ECF system.

/s/ Shannon Liss-Riordan
Shannon Liss-Riordan

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