PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 23-1808

UNITED STATES EX REL. JON H. OBERG,

Plaintiff,

and

MICHAEL CAMOIN,

Movant – Appellant,

v.

NELNET, INC.; BRAZOS HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICE CORPORATION; BRAZOS HIGHER EDUCATION AUTHORITY, INC.; NELNET EDUCATION LOAN FUNDING, INC.,

Defendants – Appellees,

and

VERMONT STUDENT ASSISTANCE CORPORATION; PENNSYLVANIA HIGHER EDUCATION ASSISTANCE AGENCY; KENTUCKY HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT LOAN CORPORATION; ARKANSAS STUDENT LOAN AUTHORITY,

Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. John F. Anderson, Magistrate Judge. (1:07-cv-00960-CMH-JFA)

Argued: May 7, 2024 Decided: June 18, 2024 USCA4 Appeal: 23-1808 Doc: 46 Filed: 06/18/2024 Pg: 2 of 19

Before RICHARDSON, Circuit Judge, KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and Elizabeth K. DILLON, United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Richardson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Keenan and Judge Dillon joined.

ARGUED: Nandan M. Joshi, PUBLIC CITIZEN LITIGATION GROUP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Larry Gondelman, POWERS PYLES SUTTER & VERVILLE PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Leonard A. Bennett, CONSUMER LITIGATION ASSOCIATES, P.C., Newport News, Virginia; Allison M. Zieve, PUBLIC CITIZEN LITIGATION GROUP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 23-1808 Doc: 46 Filed: 06/18/2024 Pg: 3 of 19

RICHARDSON, Circuit Judge:

Michael Camoin appeals from the magistrate judge’s order denying his request to

access summary judgment documents from prior litigation to which he was not a party. He

argues that the First Amendment presumptively guarantees him the right to access these

documents. We agree, so we reverse the magistrate judge’s order and remand for

determination of whether maintaining the seal on the requested documents is nonetheless

warranted.

I. Background

A. Facts

In 2007, Jon Oberg filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act against various

student-loan companies, including Nelnet, Inc., Nelnet Education Loan Funding, Inc.,

Brazos Higher Education Services Corporation, and Brazos Higher Education Authority,

Inc. (together, Nelnet and Brazos). Oberg alleged that the companies submitted false

claims to the Department of Education to inflate their loan portfolios eligible for interest

subsidies. The parties consented to a magistrate judge deciding the case. See 28 U.S.C.

§ 636(c).

On June 4, 2010, after the parties agreed to a protective order for discovery, the

companies filed a joint motion for leave to file confidential summary judgment materials

under seal. They explained that “sealing is necessary in order to protect the producing

party from the harm that could arise from immediate disclosure” of financial information

and non-public emails. J.A. 93. They also proposed “that the seal would be maintained

for 30 days from the date that the reply briefs to the motions for summary judgment are

3 USCA4 Appeal: 23-1808 Doc: 46 Filed: 06/18/2024 Pg: 4 of 19

filed.” J.

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