Pepper Hamilton will not be able to claim that all documents at issue in the dispute between the NCAA and the family of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno are “highly confidential,” a court of common pleas judge has ruled.

Potter County Court of Common Pleas Judge John B. Leete ruled Oct. 7 that the firm could not designate more than 17,000 documents, which consist of 70,000 pages, as “highly confidential—attorneys' eyes-only” in response to a discovery request. Under the language of a protection order currently under appeal to the Superior Court, the “highly confidential” designation would bar public disclosure of the documents.

Leete said that at least some of the documents should not have been labeled as “highly confidential.”