Coomer v. Lindell

District Court, D. Colorado·Decided June 2, 2023·No. 1:22-cv-01129·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 22-cv-01129-NYW-SKC

ERIC COOMER, PH.D.,

Plaintiff,

v.

MICHAEL J. LINDELL, FRANKSPEECH LLC, and MY PILLOW, INC.,

Defendants.

MINUTE ORDER REGARDING RESTRICTED DOCKET ENTRIES

Entered by Judge Nina Y. Wang

This matter is before the Court on the (1) Defendants’ Unopposed Motion to Restrict in Part Access to Docket Entry 136 (“Defendants’ Unopposed Motion to Restrict”) [Doc. 143, filed May 19, 2023]; and (2) Plaintiff’s Motion to Restrict Pursuant to D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2 (“Plaintiff’s Motion to Restrict”) [Doc. 144, filed May 19, 2023] and Supplement [Doc. 147, filed May 22, 2023], filed in response to the Court’s sua sponte orders dated May 16, 2023 [Doc. 142] and May 22, 2023 [Doc. 146].

On May 16, 2023, this Court noted that several filings on the docket had been filed under restriction with no accompanying motion to restrict, e.g., [Doc. 110; Doc. 113; Doc. 121; Doc. 127; Doc. 135; Doc. 136; and associated exhibits]. Under the District of Colorado’s Local Rules, “[i]f a document is filed as a restricted document without an accompanying motion to restrict, it shall retain the restriction selected by the filer for 14 days. If no motion to restrict is filed within such time period, the restriction shall expire and the document shall be open to public inspection.” D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(e). Thus, this Court ordered the Parties to file any motions to restrict by May 19, 2023. [Doc. 142].

“‘Courts have long recognized a common-law right of access to judicial records,’ but this right ‘is not absolute.’” JetAway Aviation, LLC v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs of Cnty. of Montrose, 754 F.3d 824, 826 (10th Cir. 2014) (quoting Mann v. Boatright, 477 F.3d 1140, 1149 (10th Cir. 2007)). Judges have a responsibility to avoid secrecy in court proceedings because “secret court proceedings are anathema to a free society.” M.M. v. Zavaras, 939 F. Supp. 799, 801 (D. Colo. 1996). There is a presumption that documents essential to the judicial process are available to the public, but access to them may be restricted when the public’s right of access is outweighed by interests which favor nondisclosure. See United States v. McVeigh, 119 F.3d 806, 811 (10th Cir. 1997). Accordingly, courts may exercise discretion and restrict the public’s right to access judicial records if that “‘right of access is outweighed by competing interests.’” JetAway, 754 F.3d at 826 (quoting Helm v. Kansas, 656 F.3d 1277, 1292 (10th Cir. 2011)); cf. United States v. Hickey, 767 F.2d 705, 708 (10th Cir. 1985) (“[T]he question of limiting access is necessarily fact-bound, [therefore] there can be no comprehensive formula for decisionmaking.”).

In exercising that discretion, the Court “‘weigh[s] the interests of the public, which are presumptively paramount, against those advanced by the parties.’” United States v. Dillard, 795 F.3d 1191, 1205 (10th Cir. 2015) (quoting Crystal Grower’s Corp. v. Dobbins, 616 F.2d 458, 461 (10th Cir. 1980)). The presumption against restriction may be overcome if the party seeking to restrict access to records “articulate[s] a real and substantial interest that justifies depriving the public of access to the records that inform [a court’s] decision-making process.” JetAway, 754 F.3d at 826 (quotation omitted); see also Pine Tel. Co., Inc. v. Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., 617 F. App’x 846, 852 (10th Cir. 2015) (showing of “significant interest” required). “[A] generalized allusion to confidential information” is insufficient, as is a bare reliance on the existence of a protective order pursuant to which the documents were filed. JetAway, 754 F.3d at 826–27; see also D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(c)(2) (stipulations between parties or stipulated protective orders regarding discovery, standing alone, are insufficient to support restriction). But a party may overcome the presumption of public access where the records contain trade secrets, Pine Tel., 617 F. App’x at 852; “business information that might harm a litigant’s competitive standing,” Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978); information which “could harm the competitive interests of third parties,” Hershey v. ExxonMobil Oil Corp., 550 F. App’x 566, 574 (10th Cir. 2013); private or personally identifiable information, Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2; or information that otherwise invades privacy interests, Huddleson v. City of Pueblo, Colo., 270 F.R.D. 635, 637 (D. Colo. 2010), such as personal medical information, Dillard, 795 F.3d at 1205–06.

Defendants’ Unopposed Motion to Restrict. In their Unopposed Motion to Restrict, Defendants seek to restrict Mr. Lindell’s personal email address that is found at lines 10, 11, and 15 of page 381, and lines 13 and 19 of page 382, of Exhibit 4 to ECF No. 136. [Doc. 143; Doc. 136 at 37–38]. ECF No. 136 is Defendants’ Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint (“Defendants’ Opposition to Motion to Amend”) [Doc. 136], which was filed under restriction.1 As a basis for restriction, Defendants argue that the email address was designated “Confidential Discovery Materials” under the Protective Order [Doc. 77], “based upon a recognition of Mr. Lindell’s notoriety among both his supporters and detractors and the resulting concern that wide access to his personal email address, which he also uses to conduct all of his business affairs could potentially subject him to such a volume of unsolicited email communications that his ability to conduct his personal and business affairs efficiently would be disrupted.” [Doc. 143 at 2 (citation omitted)].

This Court notes that at least one court in this District has declined to restrict email addresses, noting:

1 Defendants also filed the Opposition and all exhibits as a single, omnibus filing. See [Doc. 136]. In the future, all Parties are advised that exhibits to a pleading, motion, or paper should be associated with the primary filing but individually filed, e.g. [Doc. 1-1]. [C]ommon experience is that most people do not adequately protect from disclosure their birth dates, home addresses or telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, or drivers’ license numbers so as to reasonably call them private or confidential. Instead, that information is regularly disclosed to friends, relatives, vendors, credit card companies, schools, children’s sports teams, on hotel registers, and the like.

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Related

Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc.
435 U.S. 589 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. McVeigh
119 F.3d 806 (Tenth Circuit, 1997)
Mann v. Boatright
477 F.3d 1140 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
Helm v. Kansas
656 F.3d 1277 (Tenth Circuit, 2011)
Lucero v. Sandia Corporation
495 F. App'x 903 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
M.M. v. Zavaras
939 F. Supp. 799 (D. Colorado, 1996)
Hershey v. ExxonMobil Oil Corporation
550 F. App'x 566 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
Pine Telephone Co. v. Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
617 F. App'x 846 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Dillard
795 F.3d 1191 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
Huddleson v. City of Pueblo
270 F.R.D. 635 (D. Colorado, 2010)