Why bother with confidentiality in court proceedings? The New York Times pieced together Mr. Schmidt’s tangled history with Ms. Simon and Mr. Rundell from reco

Why bother with confidentiality in court proceedings? The New York Times pieced together Mr. Schmidt’s tangled history with Ms. Simon and Mr. Rundell from records of six separate litigation and arbitration cases, all of which are public. Mr. Schmidt’s name is redacted or withheld in four of the cases, but The Times confirmed his identity through people with knowledge of some of the events and by triangulating information from court filings.