Bold Limited v. Rocket Resume, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided March 27, 2024·No. 5:22-cv-01045·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION 6 7 BOLD LIMITED, et al., Case No. 22-cv-01045-BLF

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER REGARDING SEALING 9 v. MOTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH MOTION FOR SUMMARY 10 ROCKET RESUME, INC., et al., JUDGMENT AND MOTION TO PRECLUDE DAMAGES THEORY 11 Defendants. [Re: ECF No. 201, 202, 206, 209, 210, 217, 12 218] 13 Before the Court are the parties’ sealing motions in connection with Defendants Rocket 14 Resume, Inc., and Stephen Zimmerman’s motion for summary judgment and motion to preclude 15 damages theory. ECF Nos. 201, 202, 206, 209, 210, 217, and 218. The Court has considered the 16 motions, and its rulings are laid out below. 17 I. LEGAL STANDARD 18 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records 19 and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City and Cnty. of 20 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 21 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). Consequently, access to motions and their attachments that are 22 “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case” may be sealed only upon a showing of 23 “compelling reasons” for sealing. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 24 1101–02 (9th Cir. 2016). Filings that are only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed 25 upon a lesser showing of “good cause.” Id. at 1097. 26 In addition, in this district, all parties requesting sealing must comply with Civil Local 27 Rule 79-5. That rule requires, inter alia, the moving party to provide “the reasons for keeping a 1 document under seal, including an explanation of: (i) the legitimate private or public interests that 2 warrant sealing; (ii) the injury that will result if sealing is denied; and (iii) why a less restrictive 3 alternative to sealing is not sufficient.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1). Further, Civil Local Rule 79-5 4 requires the moving party to provide “evidentiary support from declarations where necessary.” 5 Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(2). And the proposed order must be “narrowly tailored to seal only the sealable 6 material.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(3). 7 Further, when a party seeks to seal a document because it has been designated as 8 confidential by another party, the filing party must file an Administrative Motion to Consider 9 Whether Another Party’s Material Should be Sealed. Civ. L.R. 79-5(f). In that case, the filing 10 party need not satisfy the requirements of subsection (c)(1). Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(1). Instead, the 11 party who designated the material as confidential must, within seven days of the motion’s filing, 12 file a statement and/or declaration that meets the requirements of subsection (c)(1). Civ. L.R. 79- 13 5(f)(3). A designating party’s failure to file a statement or declaration may result in the unsealing 14 of the provisionally sealed document without further notice to the designating party. Id. Any 15 party can file a response to that declaration within four days. Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(4). 16 II. DISCUSSION 17 Because the motions to seal pertain to a motion for summary judgment and motion to 18 preclude damages theory, the Court will apply the “compelling reasons” standard. See Kamakana, 19 447 F.3d at 1177. The Court will address each motion in turn. 20 A. Defendants’ Administrative Motions to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should be Sealed in Connection with Their Motion to Preclude 21 Damages Theory (ECF Nos. 201, 209) 22 Defendants filed an administrative motion to consider whether another party’s material 23 should be sealed in connection with their motion to preclude damages theory. ECF No. 201. 24 Defendants have identified portions of their motion to preclude damages theory and certain 25 exhibits in support of that motion as containing information designated by Plaintiff Bold Limited 26 as “highly confidential.” Id. at 2. Defendants later amended their motion to modify the redactions 27 to the motion to preclude damages theory. ECF No. 209. Bold filed a statement in support of 1 finances, internal competitive metrics, internal business strategies, and nonpublic corporate 2 structure.” ECF No. 215 ¶ 4. Bold also seeks to seal only narrow redactions to the documents. 3 Id. ¶ 3. No party has filed an opposition to Bold’s statement. 4 Compelling reasons exist to seal confidential business information, including non-public 5 information about a company’s business strategy, business transactions, corporate structure, and 6 finances. See Droplets, Inc. v. Yahoo! Inc., No. 12-CV-03733-JST, 2019 WL 9443777, at *3 7 (N.D. Cal. June 18, 2019) (finding compelling reasons to seal non-public information concerning 8 business transactions, corporate structure, and settlement agreements under the more stringent 9 compelling reasons standard); Unlockd Media, Inc. Liquidation Tr. v. Google LLC, No. 21-CV- 10 07250-HSG, 2022 WL 4624985, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2022) (finding compelling reasons to 11 seal non-public information related to a company’s business model); In re Google Location Hist. 12 Litig., No. 5:18-cv-05062-EJD, 514 F.Supp.3d 1147, 1162 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 25, 2021) (“Compelling 13 reasons may exist to seal ‘trade secrets, marketing strategies, product development plans, detailed 14 product-specific financial information, customer information, internal reports.’”); Fed. Trade 15 Comm’n v. Microsoft Corp., No. 23-CV-02880-JSC, 2023 WL 5186252, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 11, 16 2023) (finding compelling reasons to seal “[n]on-public sensitive financial information”); In re 17 Elec. Arts, Inc., 298 F. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir. 2008) (finding sealable “business information that 18 might harm a litigant’s competitive standing”). 19 The Court finds compelling reasons to seal the information identified in the highlighted 20 portions proposed by Bold of Defendants’ motion to preclude damages theory and the exhibits 21 listed in the table below. These documents discuss non-public information about Bold’s corporate 22 structure and finances, which if released would cause Bold competitive harm. The Court further 23 finds that Bold’s requests to seal these documents are “narrowly tailored to seal only the sealable 24 material.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(3). 25 The Court rules as follows:

26 ECF No. Document Portions to Seal Ruling 27 215-1 Defendants Rocket Highlighted GRANTED as containing Resume, Inc.’s and Portions confidential business Motion to Preclude would cause a party competitive 1 Damages Theory harm. 2 215-2 Ex. D to the Highlighted GRANTED as containing Declaration of Joseph Portions confidential business 3 A. Gorman in Support information, the release of which of Defendants Rocket would cause a party competitive 4 Resume, Inc.’s and harm. Stephen Zimmerman’s 5 Motion to Preclude 6 Damages Theory 215-3 Ex. E to the Highlighted GRANTED as containing 7 Declaration of Joseph Portions confidential business A. Gorman in Support information, the release of which 8 of Defendants Rocket would cause a party competitive Resume, Inc.’s and harm. 9 Stephen Zimmerman’s 10 Motion to Preclude Damages Theory 11 215-4 Ex. G to the Highlighted GRANTED as containing Declaration of Joseph Portions confidential business 12 A. Gorman in Support information, the release of which 13 of Defendants Rocket would cause a party competitive Resume, Inc.’s and harm. 14 Stephen Zimmerman’s Motion to Preclude 15 Damages Theory 215-5 Ex. H to the Highlighted GRANTED as containing 16 Declaration of Joseph Portions confidential business 17 A. Gorman in Support information, the release of which of Defendants Rocket would cause a party competitive 18 Resume, Inc.’s and harm. Stephen Zimmerman’s 19 Motion to Preclude Damages Theory 20 215-6 Ex. I to the Declaration Highlighted GRANTED as containing 21 of Joseph A.

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Bold Limited v. Rocket Resume, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2024).

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