Anderson v. Dzurenda

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: January 28, 2021
• Docket: 3:18-cv-00426
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 JOSEPH ANDERSON, 4 3:18-cv-0426-MMD-CLB Plaintiffs, 5 v. ORDER 6 JAMES DZURENDA, et al.,

7 Defendants. 8

9 Plaintiff’s motion to produce legal papers and for extension of time (ECF No. 217/218) 10 is DENIED as moot. Plaintiff timely filed his opposition to defendants’ motion for summary 11 judgment (ECF No. 219). 12 Defendants’ motion to for leave to file medical records under seal in support of 13 defendants’ motion for summary judgment. (ECF No. 209) is GRANTED. This court, and 14 others within the Ninth Circuit, have recognized that the need to protect medical privacy 15 qualifies as a “compelling reason” for sealing records. See, e.g., San Ramon Regional Med. 16 Ctr., Inc. v. Principal Life Ins. Co., 2011 WL89931, at *n.1 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2011); Abbey 17 v. Hawaii Employers Mut. Ins. Co., 2010 WL4715793, at * 1-2 (D. HI. Nov. 15, 2010); G. v. 18 Hawaii, 2010 WL 267483, at *1-2 (D.HI. June 25, 2010); Wilkins v. Ahern, 2010 WL3755654 19 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 24, 2010); Lombardi v. TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., 2009 WL 1212170, at * 1 (D.Ariz. May 4, 2009). This is because a person’s medical records contain 20 sensitive and private information about their health. Plaintiff’s interest in keeping his sensitive 21 health information confidential outweighs the public’s need for direct access to the medical 22 records. 23 Balancing the need for the public’s access to information regarding plaintiff’s medical 24 history, treatment, and condition against the need to maintain the confidentiality of plaintiff’s 25

27 1 ||medical records weighs in favor of sealing these exhibits. Therefore, defendants’ motion t 2 seal (ECF No. 209) is GRANTED. 3 DATED: January 28, 2021. 4 »

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27