Plaintiffs in the UFC Antitrust lawsuit have filed an opposition to Zuffa’s request for a Motion to Seal documents in its Motion for Summary Judgment.
Plaintiffs argue that the documents requested by Zuffa to seal from public view do not contain trade secrets, commercially sensitive information, are of public knowledge and are too old to contain trade secrets. As a result, it has failed to carry its burden that it will be harmed if it is disclosed by the public
Plaintiffs have filed its own Motion to Seal here premised upon Zuffa’s request to seal. This is based upon the Protective Order previously agreed to and signed by the parties, the documents that they seek to seal have been designated as “Confidential or Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only.”
According to Zuffa’s Motion to Seal, it places its requests in five categories: Financial Information, Business Communication and Strategy, Third Party Information and Expert Reports and Testimony. Notably, Plaintiffs point out the vague notion of why Zuffa believes certain business communication and strategy should be sealed citing “public disclosure of this information would be likely to provide competitors with unfair and damaging insights into Zuffa’s business practices, including providing those competitors with unearned competitive advantages.”
The Motion notes that Zuffa would like to seal portions of deposition testimony from former Zuffa vice president and assistant general counsel Michael Mersch about a hypothetical contract. There is also a request to seal testimony from Lorenzo Fertitta but that portion of the motion has been sealed at this point pending a Court determination.
The Motion cites to certain MMA articles which are about the UFC contracts which display the fact that the information that the UFC seeks to seal is already of public information.
Oppo to Motion to Seal by JASONCRUZ206 on Scribd
Payout Perspective:
Plaintiffs have just started to oppose the sealing of documents at this point. They note that previously they have allowed Zuffa to seal info with the motion going unopposed. Either Plaintiffs are recognizing a new strategy or someone was asleep at the wheel and didn’t realize that they should have opposed these motions all along. It will be up to a Court to decide if a legal burden to seal the documents has been proven by Zuffa. A Court could take a look at what is being sought to disclose and render that certain things may be disclosed while others may remain to be sealed. But, the inference is that all filings should be for public view and its up to a party to prove legal harm from disclosure. MMA Payout will keep you posted.
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