R.M., by and through next friend Elfego Maldonado Estrada, and A.B., by and...

i J I. Moh Davis Poik & Wardwell Davis Polk et 32 450 4584 450 Lexington Avenue ne [email protected] New York, NY 10047 davispolk.com August 28, 2025 Re: R.M., by and through next friend Elfego Maldonado Estrada, and A.B., by and through next friend Kadijah Hutchinson-McLean v. New York State Office of Mental Health, et al. C.A. No. 25- cv-06667 Hon. Alvin K. Hellerstein United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Pearl Street New York, NY 10007 Dear Judge Hellerstein: We represent Plaintiffs R.M. and A.B. (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) in the above-referenced action.

Plaintiffs respectfully request permission to file certain materials under seal in connection with their Motion for a Preliminary injunction (Dkt. No. 32) ("Motion"). Specifically, for the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs respectfully request to file under seal certain exhibits ("Exhibits") to the Declarations of Jeffrey Berman (DkL. No. 35) (Exs. 1-7), Stacy Meisner (Dkt. No. 36) (Exs. 8-10), Jamie Niskanen-Singer (Dkt. No. 38) (Ex. 11), Susan Platis (Okt. No. 39) (Ex. 12), and Shona Hemmady (Dkt. No. 40) (Exs. 13-15, 18-23, and 25-28).

These Exhibits, which are set forth in Appendix A hereto, consist of psychological reports, clinician notes, and emails detailing the various mental health diagnoses and incarceration statuses of Plaintiffs and other nonparty arrestees,' These Exhibits also include documents such as Section 730 commitment orders, hearing transcripts, and emails from Legal Aid Society attorneys regarding their clients’ whereabouts,” while these documents do not contain personal health information themselves, they contain information that would enable the public to identify the nonparties about whom such personal health information has been provided in anonymized form in the Motion, + See Exs. 2, 3,4, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, & 22.

2 See Exs. 1,5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15, 23, 25, 26, 27, & 28.

3 Three of these Exhibits—Exhibits 13, 14, and 23— identify and provide the health information of the Plaintiffs. These same documents have, however, already been filed under seal at Docket Numbers 31-6, 31-7, & 31-9; Plaintiffs respectfully submit that they should be sealed for the same reasons identified in the corresponding letter motion to seal, filed at Docket Number 28.

When ruling on a sealing request, this court “weighs heavily” the “privacy interests of innocent third parties ... that may be harmed by disclosure.” Matter of New York Times Co., 828 F.2d 110, 416 (2d Cir. 1987). Further, “[clourts in this District regularly seal medical information, including the medical information of non-party witnesses.” Locus Techs. v. Honeywell Int'l Inc., 2024 WL 5103334, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 13, 2024). This is particularly true for cases involving potentially vulnerable, nonparty arrestees. See Martinez v. City of New York, 2022 WL 17080292, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. June 8, 2022) (holding that a “nonparty arrestee[‘s} privacy interests in their medical records .. . [were] sufficient to overcome the presumption of access to this information’); Matthews v. New York State Dep't of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, 2023 WL 2664418, at “4 (N.D.N.Y. Mar. 28, 2023) (finding “that the privacy interests of nonparly incarcerated individuals ... present a higher value outweighing the public's presumptive right of access to... information in judicial documents” and noting the potential for such nonparties to be subjected to retaliation if identified). Here, the aforementioned Exhibits contain the personal health information of nonparly arrestees or would effectively reveal that information. Thus, sealing of these Exhibits is necessary in order to protect the nonparties’ privacy Interests. These Exhibils should be sealed for the additional reason that they contain certain sensitive health information which, if made public, could lead to harassment, retaliation, and social stigma.

Therefore, Plaintiffs submit that the Exhibits should be sealed so that they are viewable only by Plaintiffs and the Court, and not by Defendants or the public (though Plaintiffs will provide copies of the sealed materials to Defendants promptly after the Parties sign and the Court enters a protective order governing this action). Plaintiffs respectfully request that fhe Court so-order this letter fo grant the foregoing request, We are available at the Court's convenience should Your Honor have any questions.

Respectfully yours, /s/ James I. McClammy James i. McClammy Electronic Filing Appendix A