Parties resisting a challenge to the confidential treatment of documents under Delaware Court of Chancery Rule 5.1(f) must offer individualized, contemporaneous good cause for such treatment to ensure that confidentiality designations are maintained throughout litigation. For older documents, that showing must overcome a presumption of “staleness” under Rule 5.1(f).
Rule 5.1 requires that information presented to the court be available to the public, absent a showing of good cause for information to remain confidential. Under Rule 5.1(b)(2), good cause will be found “only if the public interest in access to court proceedings is outweighed by the harm that public disclosure of sensitive, nonpublic information would cause.” Since its enactment on Jan. 1, 2013, the Court of Chancery has issued few opinions interpreting the standards for designating and maintaining confidential treatment under the rule.
