West Memphis, Ark. — A federal judge has denied Entergy Arkansas’s bid for a temporary restraining order aimed at stopping the disclosure of what the utility company describes as trade secrets linked to a planned data center near West Memphis.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky issued the decision on Sept. 2 after parties involved requested time to confer before a preliminary injunction hearing. The court will set a timeline for future proceedings following the upcoming conference.
The dispute centers on Entergy’s agreement with Altitude Capital LLC, which is developing and constructing a data center in the West Memphis area. Entergy contends that the agreement contains “confidential, proprietary, and highly sensitive trade secrets,” according to the utility's complaint.
Problems began after Sydney Sasser, a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC responded with nonconfidential materials. However, the Democrat-Gazette and Sasser subsequently sued the agency, seeking additional documentation tied to the agreement.
Entergy alleges that sensitive trade secrets were inadvertently disclosed in response to a separate FOIA request filed by Jessica Kivell, another individual who sought records from the PSC. According to the utility's complaint, the PSC mistakenly released the protected information, which Entergy claims was later shared with both the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Arkansas Times.
The suit claims that after receiving the alleged trade secrets, Sasser and the Democrat-Gazette went on to publish a story detailing the information. Entergy’s legal team reportedly reached out to Sasser, Kivell, and Byron Tate of the Arkansas Times, urging them to refrain from further publicizing the data.
Entergy had argued that further dissemination of the information could result in “grave harm” to the company. The utility filed its request for a temporary restraining order to block additional disclosures while pursuing a broader legal challenge to prevent the material’s release. However, Judge Rudofsky’s denial allows reporting on the data center agreement to continue as the case proceeds.
The disagreement highlights ongoing tensions between corporate confidentiality and public access to documents under Arkansas's FOIA provisions, which are among the most expansive in the nation. For now, the case moves forward as parties prepare for the next stage of litigation.