By: Francine L. Semaya , William K. Broudy and Laurance D. Shapiro

On January 13, 2009, the New York Supreme Court, the trial level court in New York, denied a challenge to the New York Insurance Department's (the "Department") determination that certain transactional information filed with the Department by a bond insurer as a trade secret was exempt from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL").

In this case, MBIA filed with the Department information on numerous structured finance transactions it insured, including spreadsheets containing highly detailed information relating to parties involved in each transaction and the details of such transactions. This information was submitted by MBIA with a request that the information be treated as confidential and be exempt from disclosure under FOIL as trade secrets which, if disclosed, would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise.

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