Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga

KATZMANN, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the efforts of certain news organizations to intervene to secure access to documents filed under seal in regard to a motion for summary judgment. It calls upon us to determine, inter alia, whether the media intervenors can appeal a district court order that was not a final [*113] judgment, whether such documents constitute “judicial documents,” and whether an immediate right of access under both the common law and First Amendment obtains.

In June 2004, the Herald Company and Capital Newspapers Division of the Hearst Corporation (“Newspapers”) sought to intervene in J. Daniel Lugosch, III et al. v. Robert J. Congel et al., 00-CV-0784 (NAM7RFT) (N.D.N.Y.), in which various plaintiffs, none of whom are parties to this appeal, alleged various financial improprieties in the business operations of defendant Pyramid Company of Onandaga, New York and its majority general partner Robert J. Congel. In particular, the Newspapers sought access to certain documents filed under seal in connection with the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, arguing that these were “judicial documents” to which they had an immediate right of access under both the common law and First Amendment. Approximately nine months after the filing of the Newspapers’ intervention motion, the magistrate judge (Treece, M.J.) to whom the motion had been referred issued an order holding the motion “in abeyance” until after the district court (Mordue, J.) ruled on the summary judgment motion, reasoning that it was not in a position to assess the strength of the Newspapers’ argument until that time. Approximately four months after that, still without having ruled on the summary judgment motion, the district court upheld the magistrate judge’s decision to hold the Newspapers’ intervention motion in abeyance. The Herald Company now appeals this decision. We conclude that the district court erred in holding the motion in abeyance because the contested documents are judicial documents to which a presumption of immediate access applies under both the common law and the First Amendment. Because we are not in a position to assess whether the presumption is overcome by countervailing factors, we remand for the district court to make specific — and immediate— findings.