Zabolotsky v. Equifax ( 2020 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ED LO EC CU TM RE ON NT IC ALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOC #: _________________ DATE FILED: 12/10/20 JULIA ZABOLOTSKY, Plaintiff, 19-cv-11832-GHW -against- ORDER EXPERIAN, Defendant. GREGORY H. WOODS, United States District Judge: On December 4, 2020, Plaintiff emailed the Court ex parte—that is, without copying opposing counsel. The Court generally does not accept ex parte communications or correspondence via email. Therefore, the Court anticipates posting Plaintiff’s email to the docket in this case, unless the Court grants a motion to seal that communication.1 Parties who wish to seal documents must follow the procedures described in Rule 4(A)(ii) of the Court’s Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases, available at https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/practice_documents/GHW%20Woods%20Civil %20Practice%20Rules%20November%2012%2C%202020%20Web.pdf. If Plaintiff wishes to submit an application to seal her December 4, 2020 ex parte email, she may do so. While Plaintiff may submit a motion to seal, there is a long-established “general presumption in favor of public access to judicial documents.” Collado v. City of New York, 193 F. Supp. 3d 286, 288 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). Therefore, the Court will “carefully and skeptically” review any motion to seal to ensure there really is an “extraordinary circumstance or compelling need” to seal 1 Rule 2(D) of the Court’s Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Pro Se Cases provides that “[a]bsent a request to file a communication with the Court under seal, the Court will docket any substantive communication with the Court on ECF, a publicly accessible database.” The Court’s Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Pro Se Cases were attached to the order setting the initial pretrial conference in this case. Dkt. No. 7. the document. Video Software Dealers Ass’n v. Orion Pictures Corp., 21 F.3d 24, 27 (2d Cir. 1994). ‘The Court may seal a document only if 1t makes a specific, on the record finding that sealing is essential. Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 120 (2d Cir. 2006) (quotation omitted). Any motion to seal must be submitted by December 18, 2020. Plaintiffs motion, if any, should follow the Court’s Individual Rules and address the high bar for sealing judicial documents. SO ORDERED. Dated: December 9, 2020 GREG sR bel WOODS United States District Judge