Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided September 1, 2022·No. 5:22-cv-04486·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION 6 7 PHIL MICKELSON, et al., Case No. 22-cv-04486-BLF

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 9 v. DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT PGA TOUR, INC.’S ADMINISTRATIVE 10 PGA TOUR, INC., MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER ANOTHER PARTY’S MATERIAL 11 Defendant. SHOULD BE SEALED 12 [Re: ECF No. 49]

13 Before the Court is Defendant PGA Tour, Inc.’s (“PGA”) administrative motion to consider 14 whether certain portions of PGA’s opposition to Plaintiffs Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, and Matt 15 Jones’s (collectively, “TRO Plaintiffs”) motion for temporary restraining order and its supporting 16 documents should be sealed as confidential information of TRO Plaintiffs and non-party LIV Golf, 17 Inc. (“LIV Golf”). See Mot., ECF No. 49. 18 At issue are provisions of player contracts (the “Contracts”) between TRO Plaintiffs and 19 LIV Golf, including personal identifying information, payment terms, and player obligations, which 20 are subject to a confidentiality agreement. See TRO Pls.’ Statement, ECF No. 70 at 3. Further at 21 issue are portions of the rules and regulations (the “Rules and Regulations”) for LIV Golf events 22 known as the Invitational Series, which TRO Plaintiffs indicate are “in their initial stages of 23 development.” Id. at 3-4. 24 TRO Plaintiffs and LIV Golf representative John Loffhagen provide declarations indicating 25 that the sections of the Contracts and the Rules and Regulations TRO Plaintiffs seek to seal will 26 negatively impact TRO Plaintiffs and LIV Golf’s ability to compete if publicly disclosed. See 27 Loffhagen Decl., ECF No. 70-3; Gooch Decl., ECF No. 70-12; Swafford Decl., ECF No. 70-13; 1 Jones Decl., ECF No. 70-14. In response, PGA argues that TRO Plaintiffs’ proposed redactions are 2 overbroad, and the Court should only grant leave to seal limited portions of the Contracts—primarily 3 payment terms—and no portions of the Rules and Regulations. See PGA’s Resp., ECF No. 80. 4 Based on the below reasoning, the Court hereby GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART 5 TRO Plaintiffs’ sealing requests. 6 I. BACKGROUND 7 This is an antitrust and breach of contract case brought by professional golfers against PGA 8 for alleged conduct directed at LIV Golf, a new entrant into the elite professional golf market with 9 financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Plaintiffs’ allegations include that 10 PGA has suspended and blacklisted players for participating in LIV Golf events and partnered with 11 the DP Tour (“European Tour”) to exclude these players and LIV Golf. 12 TRO Plaintiffs brought a motion for temporary restraining order (“TRO”) to enjoin PGA 13 from continuing to suspend TRO Plaintiffs prior to the FedEx Cup Playoffs—a high-profile PGA 14 event that enables players to qualify for certain elite events in the following year, including the 15 Majors. See Mot, ECF No. 2. The Court denied Plaintiffs’ motion. See Order, ECF No. 63. 16 TRO Plaintiffs seek to seal portions of the Contracts and Rules and Regulations PGA filed 17 in support of its opposition to TRO Plaintiffs’ motion for temporary restraining order. See TRO 18 Pls.’ Statement, ECF No. 70. PGA opposes. See PGA’s Resp., ECF No. 80. 19 II. LEGAL STANDARD 20 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records and 21 documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City and Cnty. of Honolulu, 22 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 23 597 & n.7 (1978)). Consequently, access to motions and their attachments that are “more than 24 tangentially related to the merits of a case” may be sealed only upon a showing of “compelling 25 reasons” for sealing. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101–02 (9th Cir. 26 2016). Filings that are only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed upon a lesser showing 27 of “good cause.” Id. at 1097. 1 Rule 79-5. That rule requires, among other things, that the moving party provide “the reasons for 2 keeping a document under seal, including an explanation of: (i) the legitimate private or public 3 interests that warrant sealing; (ii) the injury that will result if sealing is denied; and (iii) why a less 4 restrictive alternative to sealing is not sufficient.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1)(i). Further, Civil Local Rule 5 79-5 requires the moving party to provide “evidentiary support from declarations where necessary.” 6 Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1)(ii). 7 Furthermore, when a party (the “Moving Party”) seeks to seal a document that has been 8 designated as confidential by another party or non-party (the “Designating Party”), the Moving Party 9 must file a Motion to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed under Local 10 Rule 79-5(f). The Moving Party must file a motion “identify[ing] each document or portions thereof 11 for which sealing is sought.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(1). “Within 7 days of the motion’s filing, the 12 Designating Party must file a statement and/or declaration as described in [Civil Local 13 Rule 79-5(c)(1)].” Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(3). “If any party wishes to file a response, it must do so no 14 later than 4 days after the Designating Party files its statement and/or declaration.” 15 Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(4). 16 III. DISCUSSION 17 As a threshold matter, the Court determines what standard is appropriate for a sealing motion 18 regarding materials filed in connection with a motion for temporary restraining order. The parties 19 appear to agree that the “compelling reasons” standard applies. See TRO Pls.’ Statement, ECF No. 20 70 at 1; PGA’s Resp., ECF No. 80 at 1. The Court agrees. “Many courts have applied the 21 compelling reasons standard to motions for preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining 22 orders.” See Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1095 n.2 (collecting cases). Accordingly, TRO 23 Plaintiffs’ sealing requests must be supported by “compelling reasons.” 24 PGA opposes certain redactions requested by TRO Plaintiffs while declining to oppose 25 others. The Court addresses each set of redactions in turn. 26 A. Unopposed Redactions 27 The Court first considers the redactions TRO Plaintiffs request to the Contracts that PGA 1 8–12, 17; Swafford Contract, ECF No. 80-4 at 1–2, 5, 7, 10; Jones Contract, ECF No. 80-5 at 1–2, 2 5, 9. These provisions disclose financial terms or personal identifying information of golfers and 3 LIV Golf representatives. TRO Plaintiffs argue that the financial terms are “the product of highly 4 confidential and sensitive business negotiations.” See TRO Pls.’ Statement, ECF No. 70 at 2. If 5 disclosed, TRO Plaintiffs argue, these financial terms could impact future negotiations. See id.; see 6 also Loffhagen Decl., ECF No. 70-3 ¶ 9; Gooch Decl., ECF No. 70-12 ¶¶ 3–5; Swafford Decl., ECF 7 No. 70-13 ¶¶ 3–5; Jones Decl., ECF No. 70-14 ¶¶ 3–5. 8 The Court agrees with TRO Plaintiffs as to their unopposed redactions to the Contracts. The 9 Court finds compelling reasons to seal personal information in the Contracts. See Snapkeys, Ltd. v. 10 Google LLC, No. 19–CV–02658–LHK, 2021 WL 1951250, at *3 (N.D. Cal. May 14, 2021). 11 Further, there are compelling reasons to seal financial terms of contracts that can cause competitive 12 harm if publicly disclosed. See In re Electronic Arts, 298 Fed. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir. 2008) 13 (finding compelling reasons for sealing “pricing terms, royalty rates, and guaranteed minimum 14 payment terms”); Nicolosi Distributing, Inc. v. Finishmaster, Inc., No. 18–cv–03587–BLF, 15 2018 WL 10758114, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Aug.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc. (Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc.
435 U.S. 589 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Center for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Group, LLC
809 F.3d 1092 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)