Edd King v. National General Insurance Company

District Court, N.D. California·Decided October 8, 2024·No. 4:15-cv-00313·Unknown

Opinion

EDD KING, et al., Case No. 15-cv-00313-DMR

Plaintiffs, MOTIONS TO SEAL v. Re: Dkt. No. 302, 346, 347, 364, 370, 394 COMPANY, et al., Defendants. Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification on July 7, 2023. [Docket No. 309.] In connection with this motion, the parties filed six administrative sealing motions. [Docket Nos. 302, 346, 347, 364, 370, 394.] The court addresses the motions to seal in connection with the court’s order denying Plaintiff’s motion for class certification without prejudice to renewal. [Docket No. 422.] In assessing whether documents may be filed under seal, there is “a strong presumption in favor of access.” Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003). The Ninth Circuit established standards governing requests to seal in Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006). In accordance with the strong public policy favoring access to court records, “[a] party seeking to seal a judicial record . . . bears the burden of overcoming this strong presumption by meeting the ‘compelling reasons’ standard.” Id. at 1178. “Under this stringent standard, a court may seal records only when it finds ‘a compelling reason and articulate[s] the factual basis for its ruling, without relying on hypothesis or conjecture.’” Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096–97 (9th Cir. 2016) (quoting Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179). Those reasons must “outweigh the general history of access and process.’” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178-79 (quoting Hagestad v. Tragesser, 49 F.3d 1430, 1434 (9th Cir. 1995)). The court must “conscientiously balance[ ] the competing interests of the public and the party who seeks to keep” the records secret. Id. at 1179. The Ninth Circuit has “carved out an exception to the presumption of access to judicial records” for “court records attached only to non-dispositive motions.” Id. (quoting Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135). The court reasoned that “the public has less of a need for access to court records attached only to non-dispositive motions because those documents are often ‘unrelated, or only tangentially related, to the underlying cause of action.’” Id. (quoting Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135). “A ‘good cause’ showing under Rule 26(c) will suffice to keep sealed records attached to non- dispositive motions.” Id. at 1180 (citing Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135). The Ninth Circuit has distinguished “dispositive” and “non-dispositive” motions. Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097- 98. These terms are not “mechanical classifications” and “public access [to judicial records] will turn on whether the motion is more than tangentially related to the merits of a case.” Id. at 1097, 1101. Therefore, a party must satisfy the more demanding “compelling reasons” standard to seal a motion that is more than tangentially related to the merits of the case. Id. at 1101-02. Plaintiff’s motion for class certification is “more than tangentially related to the merits of” the case. Accordingly, the “compelling reasons” standard applies to the pending administrative motions to seal. In general, compelling reasons exist to seal materials that are “sources of business information that might harm a litigant’s competitive standing.” Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097 (quoting Nixon v. Warner Comm’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 599 (1978)). Such documents can include “trade secrets, marketing strategies, product development plans, detailed product-specific financial information, customer information, internal reports and other such materials.” In re Google Location History Litig., 514 F. Supp. 3d 1147, 1162 (N.D. Cal. 2021). Furthermore, “confidential business information in the form of license agreements, financial terms, details of confidential licensing negotiations, and business strategies satisfies the “compelling reasons” standard.” Baird v. BlackRock Inst. Tr. Co., 403 F. Supp. 3d 765, 792 (N.D. Cal. 2019); see also 14, 2019) (granting motion to seal confidential agreements between a party and a third-party). Pursuant to Civil Local Rules 7-11 and 79-5(f), Plaintiffs filed four administrative motions to consider whether another party’s material should be sealed. [Docket Nos. 302, 364, 370, 394.] As the designating parties under Civil Local Rule 79-5(f), Defendants filed two statements in support. [Docket Nos. 310, 376.] Defendants seek to seal only some of the materials identified by Plaintiffs, arguing that the materials contain confidential information pertaining to their business practices and email communications, competitively sensitive information regarding Defendants’ training practices and affinity products, and information from Defendants’ confidential policyholder databases. Plaintiffs do not oppose Defendants’ sealing requests. A. Docket Nos. 302 and 394 Docket Numbers 302 and 394 are sealing motions regarding the exact same material. Defendants filed one statement in support of the motions. [Docket No. 310 (Jesse Contreras Decl., July 10, 2023).] The court makes the following rulings for both motions. Document Text, Portions, or Basis for Confidentiality Document to be Sealed Plaintiffs’ Memorandum Page 2, lines 25 – 26. GRANTED. The court did not rely on of Points and Authorities this information in its order. See Lesnik in Support of Motion for v. Eisenmann SE, No. 16-cv-01120- Class Certification LHK, 2021 WL 2093062, at *2 (N.D. ("Class Certification Cal. Feb. 12, 2021) (granting motion to Brief") seal where court did not rely on any of the information the parties sought to seal and “therefore, the public interest in access to this information is minimal”). Class Certification Brief Page 8, lines 5 – 7, and GRANTED as to lines 5 – 7. The court lines 17 – 26. did not rely on this information. DENIED as to lines 17 – 26. The discussion in Plaintiff’s brief is a generalized characterization and/or does not reveal specific confidential information. Class Certification Brief Page 9, lines 5 - 10. DENIED. The discussion in Plaintiff’s brief is a generalized characterization and/or does not reveal specific Class Certification Brief Page 13, lines 4 - 7. GRANTED. The court did not rely on this information. Class Certification Brief Page 15, lines 16 – 21; GRANTED. The discussion in Page 15, lines 22 – 24 Plaintiff’s brief reveals detailed and Footnote 9. information about Defendants’ confidential business practices. See Nicolosi Distrib. v. Finishmaster, Inc., No. 18-cv-03587-BLF, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147515, at *7 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 28, 2018) (finding compelling reasons to seal “proprietary and confidential business information, including potential trade secrets and business practices, such as product rates and purchase requirements”). Class Certification Brief Page 16, lines 3 – 5, and DENIED as to lines 3-5. The discussion lines 13 – 19. is a generalized characterization and/or does not reveal specific confidential information. GRANTED as to lines 13 – 19. The discussion reveals detailed information about Defendants’ confidential business practices. Declaration of Scott Page 3, lines 13 – 15. DENIED. Defendants have no objection Brown Support of to unsealing this text. Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification (“Brown Decl.”) Brown Decl. Page 4, lines 4 – 5, DENIED. Defendants have no objection to unsealing this text. Brown Decl. Page 4, lines 10 – 27. DENIED. Defendants have no objection to unsealing this text. Brown Decl. Page 5, lines 13 – Page DENIED. Defendants have no objection 6, line 6. to unsealing this text. Brown Decl. Page 6, lines 13 – 19. DENIED. Defendants have no objection to unsealing this text. Brown Decl. Page 7, line 5 – Page 8, DENIED. Defendants have no o

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