A federal court rejected efforts by Honeywell, Inc. and Ford Motor Company to gain access to documents filed in connection with asbestos-related bankruptcies for use in lobbying efforts connected to asbestos litigation. Instead, as urged in an amicus brief filed on behalf of the American Association for Justice by CCL, the court affirmed a bankruptcy court ruling that restricted the documents' use to litigation purposes.    

     The companies had argued that they were entitled to unrestricted access to the documents for legislative and lobbying purposes. Both companies have defended cases against asbestos liability. Many of the documents they sought in this action, known as In re Motion to Access 2019 Statements, were in closed cases and contained significant personally identifiable information that would have to be redacted if ordered released. Honeywell and Ford argued that either the original plaintiffs or the court itself would have to pay the costs of redaction.

     The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware rejected these arguments. First, it held that many of the records were restricted under orders that were 14 years old, affirmed on appeal, and not subject to collateral attack at this time. As to other records, the court held that they were subject to privacy protections enacted by Congress in 2005, which created an exception to the presumption that records in bankruptcy cases are public documents. Finally, the court declared that the companies did not seek access to the documents for a proper purpose in claiming that the documents would support their lobbying activities. Instead, the court held that litigation activities served as the only proper purpose for such a motion.