Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided May 22, 2023·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 MATT JONES, et al., Case No. 22-cv-04486-BLF

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER ON MOTIONS TO SEAL 9 v. DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED WITH MOTIONS TO STAY 10 PGA TOUR, INC., [Re: ECF Nos. 414, 421, 422] 11 Defendant.

12 13 Before the Court are three administrative motions to consider whether another party’s 14 material should be sealed. The motions concern materials submitted with briefing on motions to 15 stay discovery. 16 Defendant PGA Tour, Inc. (the “TOUR”) filed an Administrative Motion to Consider 17 Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed. TOUR Mot., ECF No. 414. Plaintiff LIV 18 Golf, Inc. filed a statement in support of sealing. LIV Statement, ECF No. 419. 19 Plaintiffs LIV, Matt Jones, and Bryson DeChambeau filed two administrative motions to 20 consider whether another party’s material should be sealed. Plaintiffs’ first administrative motion 21 seeks to seal materials that the TOUR designated as confidential. Pls. Mot. Re TOUR Materials, 22 ECF No. 421. The TOUR has filed a statement in support of sealing. TOUR Statement, ECF No. 23 429. Plaintiffs’ second administrative motion seeks to seal materials that non-party Clout Public 24 Affairs LLC designated as confidential. Pls. Mot. Re Clout Materials, ECF No. 422. Clout filed a 25 statement in support of sealing. Clout Statement, ECF No. 427. 26 For the following reasons, the TOUR’s administrative motion (ECF No. 414) is 27 GRANTED; Plaintiffs’ motion concerning the TOUR’s materials (ECF No. 421) is GRANTED 1 No. 422) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. 2 I. LEGAL STANDARD 3 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records 4 and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City and Cnty. of 5 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 6 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). Consequently, access to motions and their attachments that are 7 “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case” may be sealed only upon a showing of 8 “compelling reasons” for sealing. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 9 1101-02 (9th Cir. 2016). Filings that are only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed 10 upon a lesser showing of “good cause.” Id. at 1097. 11 Under this Court’s Civil Local Rules, a party moving to seal a document in whole or in 12 part must file a statement identifying the legitimate private or public interests that warrant sealing, 13 the injury that will result if sealing is denied, and why a less restrictive alternative to sealing is not 14 sufficient. See Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1). A supporting declaration shall be submitted if necessary. See 15 Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(2). Finally, the moving party must submit “a proposed order that is narrowly 16 tailored to seal only the sealable material[.]” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(3). 17 Where the moving party requests sealing of material that has been designated confidential 18 by another party, the designating party has the burden to establish that the material should be 19 sealed. See Civ. L.R. 79-5(f) 20 II. DISCUSSION 21 The good cause standard applies here because the sealing request relates to briefing on 22 motions to stay discovery, which is only tangentially related to the merits of the case. Cf. Ctr. for 23 Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097; cf. also LELO, Inc. v. Standard Innovation (US) Corp., No. 13-CV- 24 01393-JD, 2014 WL 2879851 (N.D. Cal. June 24, 2014) (applying “good cause” standard to 25 evaluate sealing of documents submitted with a motion to stay); E. W. Bank v. Shanker, 2021 WL 26 4916729, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 31, 2021) (same). 27 Courts in this Circuit have held that confidential business information in the form of 1 “license agreements, financial terms, details of confidential licensing negotiations, and business 2 strategies” satisfies the “compelling reasons” standard. See Exeltis USA Inc., 2020 WL 2838812, 3 at *1; see also In re Qualcomm Litig., No. 3:17-cv-0108-GPC-MDD, 2017 WL 5176922, at *2 4 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 8, 2017) (observing that sealing is warranted to prevent competitors from “gaining 5 insight into the parties’ business model and strategy”); In re Hydroxycut Mktg. & Sales Pracs. 6 Litig., No. 09MD2087 BTM AJB, 2011 WL 864897 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2011) (finding 7 compelling reasons to seal “e-mails which reveal business and marketing strategy”). Such 8 information is therefore sealable under the “less exacting” good cause standard. See Ctr. for Auto 9 Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097. 10 LIV Materials: LIV has demonstrated good cause to seal the material it seeks to seal. 11 LIV requests to seal confidential information related to (1) confidential negotiations with 12 broadcasters and sponsors, and (2) investor operations pursuant to rights under the Shareholder 13 Agreement. See LIV Statement (citing Davidson Decl. ¶¶ 2-3, ECF No. 419). LIV’s declarant 14 explains that disclosure would cause competitive harm to LIV by prejudicing LIV’s ability to 15 obtain outside funding, restricting its ability to pursue a franchise model, and deterring of potential 16 business partners from entering negotiations with or for LIV. Davidson Decl. ¶¶ 2-3. The Court 17 finds that LIV’s Statement and Mr. Davidson’s declaration set forth good cause to seal the 18 material LIV requests to seal. 19 The Court’s rulings on specific documents are set forth as follows: 20 ECF No. Document Portion(s) to Seal Court’s Ruling 414-1 TOUR’s 3:16-17; 3:19; 3:22-23 GRANTED. Contains confidential 21 Opposition to PIF negotiations with potential business and HE’s Motion partners the disclosure of which 22 to Stay would cause competitive harm, 23 including by hampering future negotiations. 24 414-1 TOUR’s 4:5-6; 7:4-5; 7:13-17 GRANTED. Describes investor 25 Opposition to PIF rights under LIV’s Shareholder and HE’s Motion Agreement, the disclosure of which 26 to Stay would harm LIV by prejudicing LIV’s ability to negotiate with 27 future investors. 1 2 TOUR Materials: In general, the TOUR has demonstrated good cause to seal the material 3 it seeks to seal. The TOUR requests to seal information that includes: (1) summaries of and 4 communications with consultants that reflect competitively sensitive information about internal 5 TOUR operations and corporate decision making; (2) confidential communications between 6 TOUR employees; (3) communications between the TOUR and nonparties, and (4) strategy 7 communications between a TOUR employee and the TOUR commissioner. TOUR Statement 5. 8 The TOUR’s declarant explains that allowing public access to this confidential information could 9 harm the TOUR’s competitive standing and business relationships by revealing sensitive details 10 about the way the TOUR operates. Shetty Decl. ¶¶ 3-12. The Court finds that, for the most part, 11 the TOUR’s Statement and Ms. Shetty’s declaration set forth good cause to seal the material the 12 TOUR requests to seal. However, as discussed below, the TOUR has not made the requisite 13 showing of good cause to seal certain documents in their entirety. 14 The TOUR has not demonstrated good cause to seal Exhibit F to the Surprenant 15 Declaration (ECF No. 421-4) in its entirety. “The ‘good cause’ standard requires a ‘particularized 16 showing’ that ‘specific prejudice or harm will result’ if the information is disclosed.” Steshenko v. 17 Gayrard, No. 13-CV-03400-LHK, 2015 WL 602396, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 11, 2015) (quoting 18 Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002)). 19 Exhibit F is a letter from a non-party to the TOUR.

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