Sealed Settlements Study

At the request of the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, researchers at the Federal Judicial Center did an empirical study of settlements that were sealed. Now one of the researchers writes about the project: Robert Timothy Reagan, The Hunt for Sealed Settlement Agreements, 81 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 439-62 (2006).

He reports that sealed settlements are fairly uncommon: less than 1/2% of the cases resolved in the two-year period they sampled. They are most common in patent cases and least common in property cases.

He notes that, even when the settlement is sealed, the public is not necessarily deprived of all information about the case. Often the complaint and docket sheet were not sealed -- so one could find out what the plaintiff's allegations were. Most often, the only information that was sealed was the amount of settlement.

The whole study is Robert Timothy Reagan et al., Sealed Settlement Agreements in Federal District Court (Federal Judicial Center 2004). It includes an appendix summarizing local district court rules on the topic. An earlier report summarizes federal and state rules, as of 2003: Robert Timothy Reagan et al., Sealed Settlement Agreements in Federal District Court -- May 2003 Progress Report.