Day v. GEICO Casualty Company

Opinion

1 2 6 7 JESSICA DAY, Case No. 21-cv-02103-BLF

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING GEICO'S 9 v. ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO FILE DOCUMENTS UNDER SEAL 10 GEICO CASUALTY COMPANY, et al., [Re: ECF No. 95] 11 Defendants.

12 13 Before the Court is Defendant GEICO’s corrected administrative motion to file under seal 14 portions of and exhibits to GEICO’s opposition to Plaintiff’s motion for class certification. See 15 ECF No. 95. The Court has considered the motion and supporting declaration. For the following 16 reasons, the motion to seal GEICO’s materials is GRANTED. 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 1101–102 (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 warrant sealing; (ii) the injury that will result if sealing is denied; and (iii) why a less restrictive 2 alternative to sealing is not sufficient.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1)(i). Further, Civil Local Rule 79-5 3 requires the moving party to provide “evidentiary support from declarations where necessary.” 4 Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1)(ii). 6 This Court previously determined “that the compelling reasons standard applies to motions 7 to seal documents relating to class certification.” Adtrader, Inc. v. Google LLC, No. 17-CV- 8 07082-BLF, 2020 WL 6391210, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 24, 2020). 9 The material that GEICO seeks to seal includes non-public, confidential financial 10 information about GEICO’s operations in California. See ECF 95-1 at 1. GEICO seeks to file this 11 information under seal because GEICO’s counsel asserts that if the information is in the public 12 domain, it could be used by GEICO’s competitors to GEICO’s disadvantage. See ECF 95-1 at 2. 13 Plaintiffs do not oppose GEICO’s request. The Court finds that GEICO has met the “compelling 14 reasons” standard for sealing financial information about its operations in California because 15 release of the information threatens its competitive interests. See Exeltis USA Inc. v. First 16 Databank, Inc., No. 17-CV-04810-HSG, 2020 WL 2838812, at *2 (N.D. Cal. June 1, 2020); In re 17 Qualcomm Litig., No. 3:17-CV-0108-GPC-MDD, 2017 WL 5176922, at *2 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 8, 18 2017). The Court rules as follows on the documents GEICO seeks to have sealed: 19 ECF No. Document Portions to Seal Ruling 20 93 GEICO’s Response to Highlighted portions at GRANTED, as 21 Plaintiff’s Motion for 1:7-8, 2:14-15, 3:9-19, containing information Class Certification 4:1-12, 4:25, 5:1-11, related to GEICO’s 22 5:13, 5:14, 5:17-27, 8:24- internal financial results 25, 12:12-13, 16:6-7, and sensitive proprietary 23 16:11 business issues. 93-1 Declaration of Russell Entire exhibit GRANTED, as 24 Ward in Support of containing information 25 GEICO’s Response in related to GEICO’s Opposition to Motion for internal financial results 26 Class Certification and sensitive proprietary business issues. 27 93-2 Declaration of William Entire exhibit GRANTED, as 1 GEICO’s Response in related to GEICO’s Opposition to Motion for internal financial results 2 Class Certification and sensitive proprietary business issues. 3 Il. ORDER 4 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that GEICO’s sealing motion is GRANTED. 6 7 Dated: August 24, 2022 tn) 8 NM. 9 BETH LABSON FREEMAN United States District Judge 10 11 12

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