ImprimisRx, LLC v. OSRX, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedAugust 15, 2022
Docket3:21-cv-01305
StatusUnknown

This text of ImprimisRx, LLC v. OSRX, Inc. (ImprimisRx, LLC v. OSRX, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
ImprimisRx, LLC v. OSRX, Inc., (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Case No.: 21cv1305-BAS(BLM) 11 ImprimisRx, LLC,

12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO DE-DESIGNATE AS 13 v. CONFIDENTIAL; GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO FILE UNDER 14 OSRX, Inc.; and OCULAR SCIENCE, Inc., SEAL; GRANTING’S PLAINTIFF’S 15 Defendants. REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE; AND GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ REQUEST 16 FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE

17 [ECF NOS. 41, 43, 44, 47, 48] 18 19 Before the Court are Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal [ECF No. 41], Motion to De- 20 Designate as Confidential [ECF No. 43], and Request for Judicial Notice [ECF No. 44], and 21 Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to De-Designate as Confidential [ECF No. 47], 22 Request for Judicial Notice in Support of its Opposition [ECF No. 47-2], and Response in Support 23 of Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal [ECF No. 48]. For the reasons discussed below, the Court 24 DENIES Plaintiff’s motion to de-designate as confidential. Further, the Court GRANTS 25 Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal. The Court also GRANTS both Plaintiff’s and Defendants’ 26 Requests for Judicial Notice. 27 1 BACKGROUND 2 On July 20, 2021, Plaintiff filed its initial complaint commencing this action. ECF No. 1. 3 Defendants filed their answer and counterclaim against Plaintiff on October 22, 2021. ECF No. 4 5. Plaintiff filed its first amended complaint (“amended complaint”) on April 29, 2022. ECF No. 5 28. On May 13, 2022, Defendants filed their answer to the amended complaint. ECF No. 30. 6 Prior to the filing of the amended complaint, on February 14, 2022, Plaintiff served its 7 first set of requests for production of documents on Defendant OSRX, Inc. (“Defendant”). 8 Declaration of Matthew L. Venezia (“Venezia Decl.”), ECF No. 43-1 at 2. In response, Defendant 9 began producing documents and designated many either “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL 10 – FOR COUNSEL ONLY.” Id. Defendant made the designations in accordance with the parties’ 11 stipulated protective order that was granted and entered by this Court (with modifications) on 12 March 10, 2022. See ECF Nos. 22, 23. Plaintiff disagreed with many of the designations, and 13 on May 20, 2022, Plaintiff drafted a letter to Defendant explaining the designations are improper. 14 Venezia Decl. at 2; Exhibit A to Venezia Decl. (“Exhibit A”), ECF No. 43-2. On May 31, 2022, 15 Defendant sent a responsive letter indicating that Defendant did not agree to remove the 16 challenged designations. Venezia Decl. at 3; Exhibit C to Venezia Decl. (“Exhibit C”), ECF No. 17 43-4. 18 On June 10, 2022, counsel for the parties met and conferred telephonically but did not 19 resolve the dispute. Venezia Decl. at 3. On June 13, 2022, Plaintiff informed Defendant that it 20 intended to file a motion to de-designate unless Defendant removed the challenged 21 designations. Id. Defendant declined to do so on June 15, 2022. Id.; Exhibit D to Venezia Decl. 22 (“Exhibit D”), ECF No. 43-5. 23 On June 28, 2022, counsel for Defendants, Messrs. Bolton and Liddiard, and counsel for 24 Plaintiff, Mr. Venezia, jointly contacted the Court regarding the discovery dispute. That same 25 day, the Court set a briefing schedule requiring Plaintiff to file its discovery motion no later than 26 July 1, 2022. ECF No. 38. On July 1, 2022, Plaintiff filed its Motion to File Documents Under 27 Seal, its redacted Motion to De-Designate as Confidential, and Request for Judicial Notice. ECF 1 Exhibit B to Venezia Decl. (“Exhibit B”), ECF No. 42-3. On July 15, 2022, Defendant filed its 2 Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to De-Designate as Confidential, which included a Request for 3 Judicial Notice. ECF Nos. 47, 47-2. At issue here are the email correspondence between 4 Defendant and customers provided in Exhibit B (“Challenged Materials”).1 5 LEGAL STANDARD 6 Generally, “the public is permitted ‘access to litigation documents and information 7 produced during discovery.’” In re Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, 661 F.3d 8 417, 424 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir. 9 2002). However, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, “[t]he court may, for good cause, 10 issue an order to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, or undue burden 11 or expense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1). When, however, the parties stipulate to a protective 12 order, and no party makes a good cause showing, the party seeking protection bears the burden 13 of proof to show “specific prejudice or harm” will result if the documents are disclosed. In re 14 Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland, 661 F.3d at 424 (“If a party takes steps to release 15 documents subject to a stipulated order, the party opposing disclosure has the burden of 16 establishing that there is good cause to continue the protection of the discovery material.”). 17 In considering whether good cause exists to continue the protection of a stipulated court 18 order, a court must first “determine whether ‘particularized harm will result from disclosure of 19 information to the public.’” Id. The party opposing disclosure must “allege specific prejudice or 20 harm,” and cannot meet their burden with “[b]road allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by 21 specific examples or articulated reasoning.” Id. (quoting Beckman Indus., Inc. v. Int’l Ins. Co., 22 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th Cir. 1992) (internal quotations omitted). If the court decides that 23 disclosing the documents will cause particularized harm, it must then balance “the public and 24 private interests to decide whether maintaining the confidentiality designation is necessary.” Id. 25 (quoting Phillips, 307 F.3d at 1211). 26

27 1 Exhibit B includes both emails and attachments. Both parties agree that only the emails are 1 The Ninth Circuit has directed district courts to consider the factors identified in Glenmede 2 Trust Co, v. Thompson, 56 F.3d 476 (3d Cir. 1995) when balancing the private and public 3 interests. In re Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland, 661 F.3d at 424 (citing Phillips, 307 F.3d 4 at 1211). The seven Glenmede factors are: (1) whether disclosure will violate any privacy 5 interests; (2) whether the information is being sought for a legitimate purpose or for an improper 6 purpose; (3) whether disclosure of the information will cause a party embarrassment; (4) 7 whether confidentiality is being sought over information important to public health and safety; 8 (5) whether the sharing of information among litigants will promote fairness and efficiency; (6) 9 whether a party benefitting from the order of confidentiality is a public entity or official; and (7) 10 whether the case involves issues important to the public.2 Id. at 424 n.5 (citing Glenmede, 56 11 F.3d at 483). 12 DISCUSSION 13 I. Motion for De-Designation 14 Plaintiff seeks an order from the Court that strikes Defendants’ designation of the 15 Challenged Materials as “confidential”3 under the stipulated Protective Order, and files the 16 Challenged Materials under seal. ECF Nos. 41,43. Plaintiff relies on the Glenmede factors to 17 argue that Defendant cannot make a showing of good cause for their continued protection as 18 “confidential,” and that public health and safety concerns require the de-designation so Plaintiff 19 can report the alleged violations to the FDA. ECF No. 43 at 1, 5-10.

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ImprimisRx, LLC v. OSRX, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/imprimisrx-llc-v-osrx-inc-casd-2022.