From U.S. ex rel. Oberg & Camoin v. Nelnet, Inc., decided yesterday by the Fourth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Julius Richardson, joined by Judge Barbara Milano Keenan and District Judge Elizabeth Dillon (W.D. Va.):
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….
The parties filed various documents under seal, and he case ultimately settled while summary judgment motions were pending. Then, "[o]n March 31, 2023, Michael Camoin—a documentary filmmaker who covers the student-loan industry—filed a pro se letter in the district court requesting access to the materials that Oberg filed under seal in connection to his opposition to summary judgment." The Fourth Circuit ruled that the First Amendment provided a presumptive right of access to the documents:
