International News, Inc. v. 10 Deep Clothing, Inc.

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL NEWS INC., CASE NO. C18-0302-JCC Plaintiff, ORDER v. 10 DEEP CLOTHING INC., Defendant.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s motions to seal (Dkt. Nos. 88, 91). Plaintiff moves to maintain Docket Numbers 87, 88, 89, and 90 under seal. (See generally Dkt. Nos. 88, 91.) The Court starts from the position that “[t]here is a strong presumption of public access to [its] files.” W.D. Wash. Local Civ. R. 5(g). To overcome this presumption, there must be a “compelling reason” for sealing that is “sufficient to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure.” Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 2006). On November 26, 2018, the Court entered the parties’ stipulated protective order, which pertains to commercially and financially sensitive information. (See Dkt. No. 28 at 2.) Defendant asserts that the documents at issue contain or relate to Defendants’ confidential financial information, the disclosure of which would harm Defendant’s competitive standing in its industry. (See Dkt. No. 92 at 5–7.) Having reviewed the documents, the Court finds that Defendant has met its burden of establishing a compelling reason to maintain them under seal. See 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a); In re Elec. Arts, Inc., 298 F. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir. 2008); Ross v. Bar None Enters., 2014 WL 4109592, slip op. at 2 (E.D. Cal. 2014); (Dkt. Nos. 92 at 5–7, 93 at 2–3). Therefore, Plaintiff’s motions to seal (Dkt. Nos. 88, 91) are GRANTED. The Clerk is DIRECTED to maintain Docket Numbers 87, 88, 89, and 90 under seal until further order of the Court. The parties are ORDERED to file publicly-available, redacted versions of the documents at issue within 14 days of the date this order is issued. DATED this 3rd day of June 2020. A John C. Coughenour UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE