Northern District of Illinois Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Confidential/Highly Confidential documents must be clearly marked on their face.

Source text: A person designates information in a document or thing as Confidential or Highly Confidential by clearly and prominently marking it on its face as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL.”

Deposition testimony must be designated as Confidential/Highly Confidential on record or within 14 days of transcript receipt.

Source text: A person designates information in deposition testimony as Confidential or Highly Confidential by stating on the record at the deposition that the information is Confidential or Highly Confidential or by advising the opposing party and the stenographer and videographer in writing, within fourteen days after receipt of the deposition transcript, that the information is Confidential or Highly Confidential.

Disputed confidentiality designations must be resolved through meet-and-confer; producer bears burden of proof.

Source text: If a party disputes a producer’s designation of information as Confidential or Highly Confidential, the party shall notify the producer in writing of the basis for the dispute, identifying the specific document[s] or thing[s] as to which the designation is disputed and proposing a new designation for such materials. The party and the producer shall then meet and confer to attempt to resolve the dispute without involvement of the Court. If they cannot resolve the dispute, the proposed new designation shall be applied fourteen (14) days after notice of the dispute unless within that fourteen day period the producer files a motion with the Court to maintain the producer’s designation. The producer bears the burden of proving that the information is properly designated as Confidential or Highly Confidential.

Recipient must promptly notify producer when receiving compulsory process for confidential information.

Source text: If a recipient of Confidential or Highly Confidential information receives compulsory process (e.g., subpoena) commanding production of documents, ESI, or things containing a producer’s Confidential or Highly Confidential information, the recipient must promptly notify the producer, in addition to following the other provisions of this section.

No document may be filed under seal without prior court permission.

Source text: This protective order does not, by itself, authorize the filing of any document under seal. No document may be filed under seal without prior leave of court. A party wishing to file under seal a document containing Confidential or Highly Confidential information must move the Court, consistent with Local Rule 26.2(b) and prior to the due date for the document, for permission to file the document under seal.

Party must notify producer 5 business days before filing document containing confidential information.

Source text: If a party wishes to file in the public record a document that another producer has designated as Confidential or Highly Confidential, the party must advise the producer of the document no later than five business days before the document is due to be filed, so that the producer may move the Court to require the document to be filed under seal.

Sealed documents must include cover sheet with case caption, title, order date, and attorney signature.

Source text: Pursuant to Local Rule 5.8, any document filed under seal must be accompanied by a cover sheet disclosing (i) the caption of the case, including the case number; (ii) the title “Restricted Document Pursuant to Local Rule 26.2;” (iii) a statement that the document is filed as restricted in accordance with a court order and the date of the order; and (iv) the signature of the attorney of record filing the document.

Default protective order in Appendix B effective upon initial disclosures; modifications allowed for good cause without delaying disclosures.

Source text: The protective order found in LPR Appendix B shall be deemed to be in effect as of the date for each party's Initial Disclosures. Any party may move the Court to modify the Appendix B protective order for good cause. The filing of such a motion does not affect the requirement for or timing of any of the disclosures required by the LPR.

Court approval required before filing any document under seal or as restricted.

Source text: No filing under seal, or any other designation as a restricted document, is to be permitted without previously-obtained court approval (see Citizens First Nat'l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999)).

Parties cannot amend protective order provisions regarding court approval or document return without court approval.

Source text: If the protective order contains any provision that would permit its amendment by agreement of the parties without requiring court approval, that power of amendment cannot extend to the subjects covered in paragraphs 1 and 2.

Sealed/restricted documents may be returned within 63 days after case closure; otherwise become public.

Source text: After the case is closed in the District Court (this requirement differs from L.R.26.2(e), which speaks of the case's 'final disposition including appeals'), the parties may obtain the return of any previously-sealed or previously-restricted documents by a motion filed within a specified time period after the case is closed. Counsel are free to agree on that specified time period, but they should not designate more than a 63-day period. Any documents that are not so withdrawn will become part of the public case file, and the protective order must so provide.

Protective order entered under FRCP 26(c)(1) for trade secrets and confidential information.

Source text: The Court enters the following protective order pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1).

Confidential/Highly Confidential designation requires good faith belief based on reasonable inquiry.

Source text: A person’s designation of information as Confidential or Highly Confidential means that the person believes in good faith, upon reasonable inquiry, that the information qualifies as such.

Confidential/Highly Confidential designations can be withdrawn by written notice to all parties.

Source text: A person who has designated information as Confidential or Highly Confidential may withdraw the designation by written notification to all parties in the case.

Sealed documents disposition options per General Rule 10 upon case closure

Source text: Any document contained within has been ordered sealed. Pursuant to General Rule 10 upon this case being closed the sealed document is to be:

Settlement conference statements are confidential and inadmissible at trial under Local Rule 83.5.

Source text: The pre-conference letters and the settlement conference are governed by Local Rule 83.5 relating to Confidentiality of Alternative Dispute Resolution Proceedings. Any statements made by any party during the settlement conference will not be admissible at trial.