In personal injury settlements, particularly in products liability cases, defendants regularly seek varying levels of confidentiality as a necessary condition of the settlement. The  trend has been toward ever-increasing amounts of requested secrecy. Far from just seeking confidentiality of the settlement terms or amount, more and more defendants, especially corporate defendants, are seeking absolute secrecy, not just over the terms of the settlement  and not just from the injured plaintiff.

Sometimes the requested confidentiality provisions require participation by the plaintiff’s attorney as well. Even where such provisions are not discussed at mediation or the time of settlement, proposed releases often attempt to hold the attorney to strict confidentiality in all aspects of the case, require the attorney to return all documents or require the destruction of evidence, such as the involved product.