What becomes public in a contract dispute

The complaint, the answer, and most motions and orders. That means the allegations and the court's reasoning are usually readable by anyone, which is why dockets are the starting point for reporting on any dispute. A docket summary for the matter this publication covers is at the docket tracker.

Documents produced in discovery are generally not filed and therefore never become public. Where they are filed as exhibits, a protective order commonly governs which may be sealed, and commercially sensitive material is routinely designated confidential by the producing party. The result is that the most informative documents in a commercial case are frequently the ones nobody outside it reads.

Arbitration removes even the default, as described in arbitration versus court.

Two cautions. An allegation in a complaint is a claim, not a finding, and repeating it without that distinction is how reporting goes wrong. And the absence of a document from a public file says nothing about its contents: it usually means a protective order applies, not that the material does not exist.