Newman v. Bayer Corp.

LEHOTSKY KELLER COHN LLP 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20001 Jonathan F. Cohn jon@lkcfirm.com September 16, 2025 VIA ECF The Honorable Kenneth M. Karas United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The Hon. Charles L. Brieant Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse 300 Quarropas St. White Plains, NY 10601-4150 RE: Newman v. Bayer Corp., No. 7:22-cv-07087-KMK-AEK Defendants’ Motion for Leave to File Under Seal Dear Judge Karas, I represent Defendants Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare LLC (“Bayer”) in the above referenced matter. I write pursuant to Your Honor’s Individual Rule IX.A to request an order permitting Defendants to redact the following, viewable only by Selected Parties: 1. Portions of Defendants’ Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, Decertification containing descriptions of and excerpts from Plaintiff’s Exhibits 5 through 12 to the Declaration of Max S. Roberts in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification. See ECF 75-5 to -12. This Court has already sealed those exhibits. pee BCP 77. These documents are internal consumer surveys that were commissioned by Defendants and contain confidential business information and evaluations of consumer feedback. They therefore contain “a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(G); see Playtex Prods., LLC v. Munchkin, Inc., 2016 WL 1276450 , at *11 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 29, 2016) (authorizing sealing of “highly proprietary material” where a party’s “privacy interests and the likely harm they may suffer if [it] is revealed to their competitors outweigh the presumption of public access”); Encyclopedia Brown Prods., Ltd. v. Home Box Off., Inc., 26 F. Supp. 2d 606, 614 (S.D.N.Y. 1998) (finding “defendants would suffer irreparable harm” should their “[c]onfidential business information dating back even a decade or more” be disclosed publicly because it “may provide valuable insights into a company’s current business practices that a competitor would seek to exploit”). Disclosure of the proposed redacted portions of Defendants’ memorandum would cause competitive harm to Defendants. See Playtex, 2016 WL 1276450 , at *11; Encyclopedia Brown, 26 F. Supp. 2d at 614 . 2. Portions of Defendants’ Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, Decertification containing excerpts from Defendants’ Exhibit D to the Declaration of Jonathan Cohn in Support of Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification. See ECF 86-4. This Court has already sealed that exhibit. See ECF 90. The redacted portions of Defendants’ memorandum reveal Defendants’ confidential pricing information and therefore discuss “a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(G); see Playtex, 2016 WL 1276450 , at *11 (authorizing sealing of “highly proprietary material” where a party’s “privacy interests and the likely harm they may suffer if [it] is revealed to their competitors outweigh the presumption of public access”); Encyclopedia Brown, 26 F. Supp. 2d at 614 (finding “defendants would suffer irreparable harm” should their “{clonfidential business information dating back even a decade or more” be disclosed publicly because it “may provide valuable insights into a company’s current business practices that a competitor would seek to exploit”). Disclosure of the proposed redacted portions of Defendants’ memorandum would cause competitive harm to Defendants. See Playtex, 2016 WL 1276450 , at *11; Encyclopedia Brown, 26 F. Supp. 2d at 614 . In accordance with Your Honor’s Individual Rule IX.A, Defendants will contemporaneously file: (1) a public version of their memorandum with redactions and (2)a sealed version of the unredacted memorandum with proposed redactions highlighted. Respectfully submitted, Granted. /si jonathan F. Cohn So Ordered. V4. ok nf Q Jonathan F. Cohn 9/16/25 Lead Counsel for Defendants cc: All Counsel of Record