Thompson Automotive Labs, LLC v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc.

Filing 204

ORDER granting 188 Motion to Seal 182 PROPOSED SEALED Memorandum in Support, 180 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, 177 PROPOSED SEALED Memorandum in Support, 187 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, 184 PROPOSED SEALED Document. Signed by District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan on 1/25/2019. (Collins, S.)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
WESTERN DIVISION
No. 5:15-CV-00282-FL
THOMPSON AUTOMOTIVE LABS, LLC,
Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant,
ORDER ON DEFENDANT/COUNTERPLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO SEAL

v.
ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC.,
Defendant/Counter-Plaintiff.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant/Counter-Plaintiff’s Motion to Seal
(“Motion”). After considering the Motion and supporting memorandum, the Court grants
the Motion.
Specifically, the Court finds that the Defendant/Counter-Plaintiff has demonstrated
that ITW’s Filings—consisting of ITW’s Memorandum in Support of Motion to Strike
Expert Testimony; the Declaration of Eric Robertson in Support of ITW’s Motion to Strike
Expert Testimony with submitted exhibits; ITW’s Memorandum in Support of Motion for
Summary Judgment; ITW’s Statement of Material Facts in Support of Motion for Summary
Judgment; and exhibits submitted with ITW’s Statement of Material Facts in Support of
Motion for Summary Judgment—contain highly confidential, proprietary business
information that merits protection under the Court’s Amended Protective Order (see
D.E. 75), the disclosure of which would result in competitive harm to DefendantCounter/Plaintiff’s business; that Defendant-Counter/Plaintiff’s interest in maintaining
confidentiality overcomes any presumption of public access under the First Amendment or
common law; and that the public has not expressed any interest in the information at issue,
and no party has objected to maintaining the documents under seal.

In addition, Defendant-Counter/Plaintiff has further limited the amount of
information that is not publicly available by submitting redacted versions of ITW’s Filings.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that confidential designated portions of ITW’s
Filings shall be filed under seal.
SO ORDERED, this the 25th day of January, 2019.

District Court Judge