A court ruling by a bankruptcy judge has many hedge funds talking.

In the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Grouper recently said hedge funds must disclose very highly confidential information related to their claims.

Several hedge funds are on an ad hoc committee of equity holders in the bankruptcy proceeding of the carrier. The judge in that case felt that it was important to know the specific makeup of this committee and the interests that the committee participants held. The judge said that the hedge funds were required to disclose the amounts of claims or interests they owned, when they were acquired and the amounts paid for them.

The judge felt that this information was so important that it could not be provided under seal but had to be shared openly with other parties in the case. Since the ruling, several hedge funds have revealed their holdings in Northwest Airlines.

What the ruling means is that at least in bankruptcy cases in which they play an important role, hedge funds are going to have to be more open about their investments.

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