Bass Underwriters, Inc. v. Kono

Opinion

1 KNaervla Oda. RBialre yN, oE. s1q2. 077 2 COZEN O’CONNOR, P.C. 3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Suite 200 3 Las Vegas, NV 89169 Telephone: (702) 470-2330 4 Facsimile: (702) 470-2370 koriley@cozen.com 5 Attorney for Plaintiff Bass Underwriters, Inc. 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 Bass Underwriters, Inc., Case No.: 2:22-cv-00138-RFB-EJY 9 Plaintiff, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE 10 TO FILE UNDER SEAL vs. 11 12 David Kono; Brooks Group Insurance Agency, LLC. 13 Defendants. 14 15 Under Local Rule IA 10-5 and the Protective Order (ECF No. 21), Plaintiff Bass 16 Underwriters, Inc. (“Bass”), moves the court for an order sealing Exhibits 2-7 attached to its 17 Opposition to Defendant Brooks Group Insurance Agency, LLC’s (“Brooks”) Motion to Dismiss 18 (“Opposition”) Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint. Pursuant to the protective order (ECF No. 19 21) in this case, these exhibits are either: (1) demarcated “Highly Confidential – Attorney’s Eyes 20 Only” on the bottom of each page or (2) contain confidential business records. The exhibits relate 21 to David Kono’s theft of confidential and trade secret information. 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 26 27 28 1 Bass seeks the exhibits be sealed in their entirety as redaction is infeasible. Special protection from 2 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action appears to be 3 warranted for this document. 4 Dated: June 14, 2023. Cozen O’Connor 5 By: /s/ Karl O. Riley_____________ KARL O. RILEY, Nevada Bar No. 12077 6 3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Suite 200 Las Vegas, NV 89169 7 Telephone: (702) 470-2330 Facsimile: (702) 470-2370 8 koriley@cozen.com Attorney for Plaintiff Bass Underwriters, Inc. 9 10 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 11 I. INTRODUCTION 12 This case arises out of David Kono’s theft of certain confidential and trade secret 13 information. To properly file the Opposition, Bass includes certain communications between the 14 relevant parties 15 II. CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE INFORMATION OF BASS SHOULD BE 16 SEALED. 17 “[T]he common law right of access is not absolute.” In re Midland Nat. Life Ins. Co. Annuity 18 Sales Practices Litig., 686 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir. 2012). For non-dispositive motions, a party 19 may seek to seal material under a standard of “good cause” similar to the standard for an order of 20 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). Diamond X Ranch LLC v. Atl. Richfield 21 Co., No. 13-cv-00570, 2016 WL 3176577 at *2 (D. Nev. June 3, 2016). When ruling on a motion 22 to seal court records, the district court, in its discretion, balances the competing interests of the 23 public and the party seeking to seal the records. In re Midland, 686 F.3d at 1119; see also Ctr. For 24 Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1097 (9th Cir. 2016). 25 These exhibits discuss Brooks’s recruitment of Kono, which Kono concurrently or 26 subsequently began to steal Bass’s confidential and trade secrets. Accordingly, there is a compelling 27 reason to seal these documents in order to avoid the disclosure of confidential and private 28 1 || information. As such, under the protective order, Bass respectfully requests that this Court grant its 2|| motion to seal the above trial exhibits pending trial. I. THE REQUEST TO SEAL IS LIMITED IN SCOPE AND NARROWLY TAILORED 4 Bass is not requesting the wholesale sealing of its Motion. These five exhibits identified by 5|| Bass may contain discussion of its confidential and trade secret information that should not be 6|| disclosed to the public until trial in this matter. The proposed sealing sought by Bass is, thus, 7|| narrowly tailored, while still appreciating the presumption of access to court records. 8] TI. REDACTION IS INFEASIBLE 9 In an abundance of caution, Bass removed all exhibits for the same reason. IV. CONCLUSION 11 Bass has served an unredacted copy of the Opposition and all exhibits via email and has mailed a copy in paper form under LR JA 10-5(d). For these reasons, Bass respectfully requests i that the Court grant its motion to seal Exhibits 2-7 in the Opposition. 14|| Dated: June 14, 2023. Cozen O’Connor g 3 15 By: /s/ Karl O. Riley KARL O. RILEY 16 Nevada Bar No. 12077 3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Suite 200 17 Las Vegas, NV 89169 Telephone: (702) 470-2330 18 Facsimile: (702) 470-2370 19 koriley@cozen.com Attorney for Plainti, 20 Bass drivers nc. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 23 24 U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE 25 Dated: June 15, 2023 26 27 28