Amid some legal gamesmanship from ATI (filing suit (pdf) against UVa during the middle of an ongoing discussion), the Virginia Court has set out the timetable for release and review of exempted material in the UVa/Mann case:
ATI v. UVa Protective Order (pdf)
This is a consent decree which means it was negotiated by the lawyers and not imposed by force of law or by the judge. It has two parts, the first a 90 day schedule from today to release the non-exempt material (some of which has already been released). This seems rather a loose timetable compared to what ATI was demanding. However the second section is a little odd. This covers the case of ATI objecting to any (or all) of the UVa exemptions. Since it is almost guaranteed that ATI will object, it makes sense to set out a process by which this will be adjudicated.
In federal FOIA, this is normally done by the production of a Vaughn Index, which the 5th Circuit has ruled is actually mandated in the case of any challenge to exempted materials. A Vaughn index is essentially a listing of all the exempted material, along with the reason for exemption but which doesn't in itself reveal what the exempted material actually is (for obvious reasons). Thus it might be a list of dates and times of emails received or sent, the topic, and the reason why it is not being released. Disputes over the exemption can then occur, with the judge deciding, in camera, whether the exemption is valid or not.
However, in this case, UVa counsel has agreed to have all the exempt material reviewed under seal by the requesting attorney's themselves! While the attorneys (Horner and Schnare) have signed non-disclosure agreements under threat of contempt of court and other sanctions, it seems highly likely that anything found which remains exempt that is interesting enough will not actually remain confidential. Thus it is surprising that UVa agreed to this. To give an example, let's assume that material reveals personal information would clearly be exempt from disclosure (for instance a potentially embarrassing medical condition among Mann's correspondents). Given that knowledge, the requestors might start to investigate to find independent corroboration of this fact. This corroboration might be safely revealed without risk of contempt of court even though the initial impetus for that line of enquiry came from exempt material. Furthermore, nothing would stop ATI from insinuating that damning material existed but that they were unable to reveal it.
This review will not take place until September, and so it is possible the terms might change.
Issues: Appeals against claimed exemptions, Vaughn Index
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