Arebalo v. Apple, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 25, 2022
Docket5:19-cv-03034
StatusUnknown

This text of Arebalo v. Apple, Inc. (Arebalo v. Apple, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arebalo v. Apple, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 SAN JOSE DIVISION 7 8 JOSHUA AREBALO, Case No. 5:19-cv-03034-EJD

9 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART 10 v. ADMINISTRATIVE MOTIONS TO SEAL 11 APPLE, INC., 12 Defendant. Re: Dkt. Nos. 77, 80, 81, 89

13 14 In connection with Plaintiff Joshua Arebalo’s motion to set aside the settlement agreement 15 (Dkt. No. 71) and Defendant Apple Inc.’s (“Apple”) motion to enforce the settlement agreement 16 (Dkt. No. 85), Apple seeks to file portions of its briefs and supporting papers under seal. Dkt. 17 Nos. 77, 80, 89. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART 18 Apple’s motions to seal. 19 I. LEGAL STANDARD 20 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records 21 and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City & Cty. of 22 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 23 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). Accordingly, when considering a sealing request, “a strong 24 presumption in favor of access is the starting point.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178 (internal 25 quotation marks omitted); see also Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 26 (9th Cir. 2003) (in considering whether documents should be sealed, courts “start with a strong 27 presumption in favor of access to court records.”). Parties seeking to seal judicial records relating 1 to motions that are “more than tangentially related to the underlying cause of action,” Ctr. for Auto 2 Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1099 (9th Cir. 2016), bear the burden of overcoming 3 the presumption with “compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings that outweigh the 4 general history of access and the public policies favoring disclosure.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 5 1178–79 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 6 Records attached to motions that are “not related, or only tangentially related, to the merits 7 of a case” are not subject to the strong presumption of access. Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 8 1099; see also Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179 (“[T]he public has less of a need for access to court 9 records attached only to non-dispositive motions because those documents are often unrelated, or 10 only tangentially related, to the underlying cause of action.” (internal quotation marks and citation 11 omitted)). Parties moving to seal records attached to motions unrelated or only tangentially 12 related to the merits of a case must meet the lower “good cause” standard of Rule 26(c) of the 13 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1098–99; Kamakana, 447 F.3d 14 at 1179–80. The “good cause” standard requires a “particularized showing” that “specific 15 prejudice or harm will result” if the information is disclosed. Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. 16 Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210–11 (9th Cir. 2002) (citation omitted); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 17 26(c). “Broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by specific examples or articulated reasoning” 18 will not suffice. Beckman Indus., Inc. v. Int’l Ins. Co., 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th Cir. 1992) (citation 19 omitted). 20 A motion to compel enforcement of settlement is only tangentially related to the merits of 21 the underlying cause of action, and therefore it constitutes a non-dispositive motion. See NetApp, 22 Inc. v. Nimble Storage, Inc., No. 5:13-cv-05058-LHK, 2015 WL 5569420, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 23 22, 2015) (finding motion to enforce settlement agreement non-dispositive and therefore applying 24 the good cause standard to motion to seal). Accordingly, “[c]ourts apply the good cause standard 25 to requests to seal information filed in conjunction with a motion to enforce a settlement 26 agreement . . .” Dodocase VR, Inc. v. MerchSource, LLC, No.17-cv-07088-EDL, 2018 WL 27 5619799, at *1 n.1 (N.D. Cal. May 22, 2018); NetApp, 2015 WL 5569420, at *1 (same). The 1 good cause showing, however, must be “particularized.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179. 2 Pursuant to Rule 26(c), a trial court has broad discretion to permit sealing of court 3 documents for, inter alia, the protection of “a trade secret or other confidential research, 4 development, or commercial information.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(G). The Ninth Circuit has 5 adopted the definition of “trade secrets” set forth in the Restatement of Torts, holding that “[a] 6 trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of information which is 7 used in one’s business, and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over 8 competitors who do not know or use it.” Clark v. Bunker, 453 F.2d 1006, 1009 (9th Cir. 1972) 9 (quoting Restatement (First) of Torts § 757 cmt. b). “Generally [a trade secret] relates to the 10 production of goods . . . . It may, however, relate to the sale of goods or to other operations in the 11 business . . . .” Id. (alterations in original). Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized 12 that sealing may be justified to prevent judicial documents from being used “as sources of 13 business information that might harm a litigant’s competitive standing.” Nixon, 435 U.S. at 598. 14 In addition, parties moving to seal documents must comply with the procedures established 15 by Civil Local Rule 79-5. Pursuant to that rule, a sealing order is appropriate only upon a request 16 that establishes the document is “sealable,” or “privileged, protectable as a trade secret or 17 otherwise entitled to protection under the law.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(b). “The request must be narrowly 18 tailored to seek sealing only of sealable material, and must conform with Civil [Local Rule] 79- 19 5(d).” Id. Civil Local Rule 79-5(d), moreover, requires the submitting party to attach a “proposed 20 order that is narrowly tailored to seal only the sealable material” and that “lists in table format 21 each document or portion thereof that is sought to be sealed,” as well as an “unredacted version of 22 the document” that “indicate[s], by highlighting or other clear method, the portions of the 23 document that have been omitted from the redacted version.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(d)(1). 24 II. DISCUSSION 25 Apple seeks to seal portions of its opposition brief to Arebalo’s motion to set aside the 26 settlement agreement, its motion to enforce the settlement agreement, and its reply in support of its 27 motion to enforce, as well as portions of supporting declarations and exhibits. Dkt. Nos. 77, 80, 1 89. Apple argues that this information should be maintained under seal because it quoting or 2 referencing terms from the parties’ confidential settlement agreement and settlement 3 communications/negotiations. See, e.g., Dkt. No. 77 at 2–3. 4 Courts in this district have recognized the general policy of protecting settlement 5 negotiations and communications in order to promote settlement and have concluded that this 6 policy satisfies the more demanding “compelling reasons” standard to seal judicial records. 7 Milliner v. Mut. Securities, Inc., No. 15-CV-03354-DMR, 2021 WL 2645794, at *5 (N.D.

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Related

Knight v. Spencer
447 F.3d 6 (First Circuit, 2006)
Larry E. Clark v. Berkeley L. Bunker
453 F.2d 1006 (Ninth Circuit, 1972)
Phillips v. General Motors Corporation
307 F.3d 1206 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Center for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Group, LLC
809 F.3d 1092 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)

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Arebalo v. Apple, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arebalo-v-apple-inc-cand-2022.