Ala. Federal Judge Denies Reinsurer’s Motion to Uphold Confidentiality Designation

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama federal magistrate judge has denied a reinsurer’s motion to uphold a confidentiality designation in a disability reinsurance case, finding it failed to show good cause why the need for confidentiality outweighed the public interest in open judicial proceedings.

In a May 17 order, Magistrate Judge Stephen Doyle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama found Standard Life Insurance Co. did not specify the specific harm that would result from loss of confidentiality on the documents at issue and how that harm outweighs the interest of the public access.

The action …