"Chiquita Asks Court to Shield Records of Pay to Paramilitary", 15 Dec 2014 [Subscription required]

In a case that tests ­confidentiality provisions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], Chiquita…last week squared off against the agency in a potentially ground-breaking Freedom of Information Act suit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit…Chiquita doesn't want to get information — it wants to prevent the SEC from giving it out. At issue: 23 boxes of company documents in the SEC's possession that detail payments by Chiquita's former Colombian subsidiary of to violent paramilitary groups…During oral arguments on Dec. 8, the three-judge D.C. Circuit panel seemed sympathetic to Chiquita's argument that making the information public now would put the company at a disadvantage in multidistrict litigation pending in Florida…[where] 6,000 Colombian citizens who want to hold it liable for the terrorist groups' abuses…Releasing the documents would not prevent Chiquita from getting a fair trial…[SEC senior counsel Sarah] Hancur said…