Colchester v. Lazaro

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 In re: CASE NO. C20-1571-JCC

10 SETH BASIL COLCHESTER, ORDER 11 Petitioner, 12 v. 14 Respondent. 15

16 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated and unopposed motions to 17 seal (Dkt. Nos. 8, 20, 27). The Court starts from the position that “[t]here is a strong presumption 18 of public access to [its] files.” W.D. Wash. Local Civ. R. 5(g)(3); see Nixon v. Warner 19 Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978). To overcome that presumption, the movant must 20 show that there are “compelling reasons” to seal the documents at issue. See Ctr. for Auto Safety 21 v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that the “compelling 22 reasons” standard applies to any motion that “is more than tangentially related to the merits of a 23 case”). The Court finds compelling reasons to seal the documents, which contain sensitive and 24 confidential information that, if made public, could cause irreparable harm. Accordingly, the 25 court GRANTS the motion to seal (Dkt. Nos. 8, 20, 27) and DIRECTS the Clerk to maintain 26 Docket Numbers 9, 10, 11, 11-1, 21, 30, 51, 51-1 under seal until further order of the Court. 1 2 DATED this 23rd day of December 2020. A 3 4 5 John C. Coughenour 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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