Court Orders Unsealing of Part of Declaration by Giuliani’s Ex-Lawyers in Georgia Election Workers’ Defamation Case
Some excerpts from Freeman v. Giuliani, decided Monday by Judge Lewis Liman (S.D.N.Y.) (read the whole opinion for more details):
[Earlier,] the Court permitted the filing under seal of certain paragraphs of the declarations of Kenneth A. Caruso and David Labkowski (collectively, “Prior Counsel”) to withdraw as counsel for Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani (“Defendant”) in this case. The Court recognized that there was a common law and First Amendment right of access to documents filed in public court, but held that there were countervailing factors that supported sealing of those paragraphs that contained privileged information, specifically paragraphs 4 to 7 in Mr. Caruso’s declaration.
In particular, certain of those paragraphs discussed fundamental disagreements that had arisen between Defendant and Messrs. Caruso and Labkowski regarding document production in this case. The Court now considers whether it is appropriate to unseal portions of those declarations, as Defendant has put privileged communications “at issue” in his representations to the Court. For the reasons discussed below, there no longer exist countervailing factors justifying continued sealing of certain portions of the declarations, and unsealing those portions is appropriate and necessary in the interests of fairness and to protect the integrity of the court….
Plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ Moss filed a motion … for an order holding Defendant in civil contempt and imposing sanctions [for violating discovery orders]…. In response to that motion and in opposition to the request for civil contempt sanctions, Defendant has submitted a declaration in which he pins the blame for his discovery failures on Messrs. Caruso and Labkowski. In particular, Defendant asserts that he did not “intentionally or willfully disobe[y] any of this Court’s orders or Plaintiffs’ discovery demands.” He swears:
I relied upon my prior counsels, Kenneth Caruso, Esq. and David Labkowski, Esq. to timely respond to the Plaintiffs’ discovery demands with my input as they needed, and to avoid disobeying any of this Court’s orders or discovery demands.
He also swears:
I relied upon my attorneys, Kenneth Caruso, Esq. and David Labkowski, Esq. to provide timely responses, objections and production of responsive materials to the Plaintiffs’ counsel by required deadlines. I did not intentionally or willfully disobey or violate any orders or demands.
And further, he swears:
Ultimately, I believe that all discovery was provided to the P
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