Excel Fortress Limited v. Wilhelm

Opinion

WO

Excel Fortress Limited, et al., No. CV-17-04297-PHX-DWL

Plaintiffs, ORDER

v.

Vaughn La Verl Wilhelm, et al.,

Defendants. Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s unopposed motion to file certain documents under seal (Doc. 183). The public has a general right to inspect judicial records and documents, such that a party seeking to seal a judicial record must overcome “a strong presumption in favor of access.” Kamakana v. City & Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). To do so, the party must “articulate compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings that outweigh the general history of access and the public policies favoring disclosure . . . .” Id. at 1178-79 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The Court must then “conscientiously balance the competing interests of the public and the party who seeks to keep certain judicial records secret.” Id. at 1179 (internal quotation marks omitted). “After considering these interests, if the court decides to seal certain judicial records, it must base its decision on a compelling reason and articulate the factual basis for its ruling, without relying on hypothesis or conjecture.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The “stringent” compelling reasons standard applies to all filed motions and their 1 attachments where the motion is “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case.” 2\| Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016). A motion for full or partial summary judgment is clearly such a motion. The documents contain trade secrets, and keeping these trade secrets confidential 1s a compelling reason that outweighs the general public right of access. Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's unopposed motion to file under seal (Doc. 183) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall seal Exhibits 2, 3 and 4 to Exhibit A, the Declaration of D. Elroy Fimrite, to Plaintiff EFG America, LLC’s Response to Defendant’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and Statement of Additional Material Facts That Preclude Summary Judgment. Dated this 13th day of September, 2019. fom ee

United States District Judge

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