Hertz Can’t Seal Most Police Report Info In Ch. 11 Case
February 9, 2022
Law 360
Types : Bylined Articles
The Hertz bankruptcy estate must make public certain information about the number of police reports it filed against its car rental customers after a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Wednesday the company couldn’t seal the data because it wasn’t commercially sensitive.
During a videoconference hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath said Hertz must remove redactions on publicly filed documents to reveal the total number of calls to its customer service call center, the total number of car rental transactions completed, the total number of police reports filed against its customers and the number of police reports that arose from theft allegations against customers that extended their rental periods.
The dispute over this information arises from a group of customers who say they were subject to arrest, prosecution and incarceration when Hertz improperly filed police reports accusing them of stealing vehicles they had validly rented. These customers filed claims against Hertz in the company’s bankruptcy case, and the company filed objections to these claims on various grounds, leading Judge Walrath to seek certain data in the filings to inform her decision on the claims objections.