Of course it depends upon the nature of the legal claims that were settled. One needs to have some reasonable basis for claiming confidential treatment - typically based upon disclosure of sensitive business information which could be used by competitors in their pricing, sales strategies, marketing plans, manufacturing, products in development, etc.
So if the settlement was for a lump sum and based on a financing agreement, then it may be very hard to claim confidential treatment and the lump sum may need to be disclosed.
It's dependent upon many variables. Typically the settling parties agree to maintain the terms of the settlement as confidential non-public information subject to disclosure only as needed internally or with business partners/contract vendors (which are often specified in an exhibit to the settlement agreement) for the sole purpose of allowing the parties to conduct business with those third-parties - AND if a party is required (REQUIRED) by law to disclose the terms of the settlement by a legal authority. Sometimes, this latter part may even require a party to appeal a ruling by the SEC to a Federal court and have the Federal court uphold the IRS ruling before they can disclose the information without violating the confidentiality provisions of the settlement.
So it can gett hairy, butt bottom line - companies can and do withhold settlement agreements and even material terms - to what extent depends upon the circumstances and business and legal judgement.
