House v. TH Foods, Inc.

Opinion

3 Case No.: 2:24-cv-01326-JAD-DJA Preston House, 4 Plaintiff Order Granting in Part and Denying in 5 v. Part Plaintiff’s Motions to Seal

6 TH Foods, Inc., [ECF Nos. 93, 94]

7 Defendant

8 Plaintiff Preston House seeks to seal or redact various exhibits attached to his summary- 9 judgment motion on the basis that defendant TH Foods, Inc. designated those documents as 10 “confidential” during discovery.1 “The public has a ‘general right to inspect and copy public 11 records and documents including judicial records and documents.’”2 “Although the common law 12 right of access is not absolute, ‘[courts] start with a strong presumption in favor of access to 13 court records.’”3 “A party seeking to seal judicial records can overcome the strong presumption 14 of access by providing ‘sufficiently compelling reasons’ that override the public policies 15 favoring disclosure.”4 “When ruling on a motion to seal court records, the district court must 16 balance the competing interests of the public and the party seeking to seal judicial records.”5 17 “To seal the records, the district court must articulate a factual basis for each compelling 18 reason to seal[,] [which] must continue to exist to keep judicial records sealed.”6 The Ninth 19

1 ECF Nos. 93, 94. 20 2 In re Midland Nat. Life Ins. Co. Annuity Sales Prac. Litig., 686 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir. 2012) 21 (quoting Nixon v. Warner Comm’ns., Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978)). 3 Id. (quoting Foltz v. St. Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003)). 22 4 Id. (quoting Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135). 23 5 Id. (citing Kamakana v. City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 2006)). 6 Id. (citing Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179; Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1136). 1 Circuit has, however, “‘carved out an exception to the presumption of access’ to judicial records” 2 that is “‘expressly limited to’ judicial records ‘filed under seal when attached to a non-dispositive 3 motion.’”7 “Under the exception, ‘the usual presumption of the public’s right is rebutted[,]’” so 4 “a particularized showing of ‘good cause’ under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) is 5 sufficient to preserve the secrecy of sealed discovery documents attached to non-dispositive

6 motions.”8 7 I find that the higher compelling-reasons standard applies in this context because House’s 8 underlying summary-judgment motion is dispositive. I find that Exhibit D and four pages of 9 Exhibit G contain House’s confidential medical records and taxpayer information, so I conclude 10 that there are compelling reasons to seal those exhibits. But Exhibits B, C, F, H, I, and the rest of 11 G do not contain any information that justifies keeping those records private. House does not 12 argue that compelling reasons exist to seal those records; he merely states that TH Foods 13 designated them as confidential when they were produced in discovery.9 But reliance on a 14 protective order does not provide a compelling reason that rebuts the presumption of access to

15 records filed on the court’s public docket.10 And TH Foods has not filed a response to House’s 16 motion arguing that those documents should remain sealed. Indeed, it has publicly filed many of 17 the same documents as exhibits to its summary-judgment motion.11 I have further reviewed 18 19

20 7 Id. (quoting Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135). 8 Id. (quoting Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1213 (9th 21 Cir. 2002); Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135, 1138). 22 9 See ECF Nos. 93, 94. 10 See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1183. 23 11 Compare ECF No. 90-5 with ECF No. 143-11 (both containing House’s performance- improvement plan). 1}| Exhibits B, C, F, H, I, and G and, except for the 4 pages of Exhibit G containing IRS documents, conclude that compelling reasons do not exist to keep those records sealed. 3 Conclusion 4 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Preston House’s motions to seal [ECF Nos. 93 and 94] are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The Clerk of Court is directed to 6] MAINTAIN THE SEAL on ECF No. 90-7 and ECF No. 90-10. The Clerk of Court is further 7} directed to UNSEAL ECF Nos. 90-5, 90-6, 90-9, 90-11, and 90-12. The Clerk of Court is 8|| further directed to SEPARATE pages 1 and 6—16 from ECF No. 90-10, FILE those pages unsealed as Exhibit G-2, and link that docket entry to plaintiff's motion for summary judgment at ECF No. 90.

US. Dist: dge Jen fter Dorsey 12 Avgist 6, 2025 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23