Cengage Learning, Inc. v. Doe 1 ( 2020 )

granted. SO ORDERED. O+Z Oppenheim York, New York /s/ John G. Koeltl mo OUT Zebrak, LLP 31, 2020 John G. Koeltl, U.S.D.d. Matthew I. Fleischman 4530 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Fifth Floor Washington, DC 20016 202.480.2965 Fleischman@oandzlaw.com December 30, 2020 VIA ECF The Honorable Judge John G. Koeltl United States District Court Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street New York, NY 10007 Re: Cengage Learning, Inc. et al. vy. Trung Kien Nguyen et al. S.D.N.Y. Case No. 20-cv-769-JGK Dear Judge Koeltl: We represent Plaintiffs Cengage Learning, Inc., Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group, LLC d/b/a Macmillan Learning, Elsevier Inc., McGraw Hill LLC, and Pearson Education, Inc. (“Plaintiffs”) in the above-referenced action. We write to seek leave to file under seal the supplemental Declaration of Matthew I. Fleischman and the exhibits to the Declaration of Sasha Hansen in support of Plaintiffs’ request for damages in connection with their default judgment filing. These documents contain full account numbers for certain Defendants’ PayPal accounts. Plaintiffs will file a redacted version of the documents on ECF, which will include all of the contents except the full PayPal account numbers. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(a)(4) mandates that, unless the Court orders otherwise, financial account numbers should be redacted before filing. Plaintiffs seek to include the full account numbers under seal in the documents at issue in order to ensure that the Court has sufficient information to connect the individual accounts to the applicable Defendants. Based on the above, the continuum that the Court applies, and the balancing of interests, Plaintiffs have overcome the presumption of a public filing. See Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20 (2d Cir. 2006). Indeed, the only information that will be withheld from the public is the Defendants’ financial account numbers. This, by its nature, is private information as to the account holder, and is not the type of information that will impact the judicial process if sealed or deprive the public of needed information. See id. Plaintiffs are aware that, absent an order granting this sealing request, the documents will become public. Thank you for the Court’s consideration of this request. Sincerely, /s. Matthew I. Fleischman Matthew I. Fleischman