Court Opinion

ID: 9865400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 17:05:28.08053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:35:41.701388
License: Public Domain

COURT OF CHANCERY
                                        OF THE
                                  STATE OF DELAWARE
PAUL A. FIORAVANTI, JR.                                          LEONARD L. WILLIAMS JUSTICE CENTER
  VICE CHANCELLOR                                                   500 N. KING STREET, SUITE 11400
                                                                   WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19801-3734

                              Date Submitted: September 8, 2023
                              Date Decided: September 25, 2023

   Christopher Viceconte, Esquire               C. Barr Flinn, Esquire
   Jennifer M. Rutter, Esquire                  Paul J. Loughman, Esquire
   Gibbons P.C.                                 Alberto E. Chávez, Esquire
   300 Delaware Avenue, Suite 1015              Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP
   Wilmington, DE 19801                         1000 North King Street
                                                Wilmington, DE 19801

                 Re:      Osterjung, LLC v. Newmark S11 GP, LLC et al.,
                          C.A. No. 2020-0502-PAF

  Dear Counsel:

          This action was filed on June 23, 2020, as a confidential filing under Court of

  Chancery Rule 5.1. Dkt. 1. The action was dismissed on December 21, 2020,

  pursuant to a stipulated order of dismissal. Dkt. 21.

          On August 9, 2023, the Register in Chancery filed a notice to the parties under

  Court of Chancery Rule 5.1(g) advising that the documents filed confidentially in

  this action are required to be unsealed three years after disposition of the action. Dkt.

  22. The notice further informed the parties that any documents in this action will be

  released from confidential treatment unless the parties file an application for

  continued confidential treatment. Id. In accordance with Rule 5.1(g), the notice

  further instructed the parties that any motion for continued confidential treatment
Osterjung, LLC v. Newmark S11 GP, LLC et al.
C.A. No. 2020-0502-PAF
September 25, 2023
Page 2 of 3

“must be made within 30 days of the date of th[e] notice.” Id.; see Ct. Ch. R.

5.1(g)(2) (“Any person seeking continued Confidential Treatment must move for

continued Confidential Treatment within 30 days after the filing of the Register in

Chancery’s Notice.”).

      On September 8, 2023, Defendant Newmark S11 GP, LLC and Nominal

Defendant Spring11 Holdings, L.P. (“Defendants”), filed a motion seeking continued

confidential treatment of three documents (the “Motion”). Dkt. 23. The Motion was

unaccompanied by any exhibits.

      Court of Chancery Rule 5.1(g) provides that confidential treatment afforded

to any document filed in a civil action “shall expire three years after the final

disposition of the civil action,” unless a person seeking continued confidential

treatment makes a proper application to the court. Ct. Ch. R. 5.1(g). That application

must be in the form of a motion, and the movant “must demonstrate that the

particularized harm from public disclosure of the Confidential information in the

Confidential Filing clearly outweighs the public interest in access to Court records.”

Ct. Ch. R. 5.1(g)(2). To meet its burden, the movant “must file . . . affidavits

providing an evidentiary basis for the particularized harm on which the movant relies

for each document for which continued Confidential Treatment is sought.” Id.

(emphasis added).
Osterjung, LLC v. Newmark S11 GP, LLC et al.
C.A. No. 2020-0502-PAF
September 25, 2023
Page 3 of 3

      Defendants’ Motion was not accompanied by any affidavit providing an

evidentiary basis for the particularized harm that would result from releasing the

filings in this case from confidential treatment. Accordingly, the motion for

continued confidential treatment is denied. All filings in this action shall be made

available for public inspection on December 22, 2023.

      IT IS SO ORDERED.

                                               Very truly yours,

                                               /s/ Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr.

                                               Vice Chancellor

PAF/dtw