Jose Castro Martinez v. Christopher J. Larose, Warden, Otay Mesa Detention Center, et al.

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: December 16, 2025
• Docket: 3:25-cv-03449
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOSE CASTRO MARTINEZ, Case No.: 3:25-cv-03449-DMS-MMP

12 Petitioner, ORDER: 13 v. (1) GRANTING RESPONDENT’S 14 CHRISTOPHER J. LAROSE, Warden, MOTION TO SEAL; Otay Mesa Detention Center, et al., 15 Respondents. (2) SEALING EXHIBIT B to 16 PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR 17 TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER; and 18

19 (3) DIRECTING PARTIES TO REVIEW DOCKET FOR FURTHER 20 PRIVATE OR SENSITIVE 21 INFORMATION

22 [ECF Nos. 5-3, 7, 8] 23 24 On December 10, 2025, Petitioner filed, as Exhibit B to his motion for temporary 25 restraining order, pages of his medical records from UCLA Medical Center. (ECF No. 5- 26 3). On December 11, 2025, Respondents filed an opposition to Petitioner’s petition for 27 writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order (“Opposition”). (ECF 28 No. 6). Respondents same-day moved to file under seal and lodged an exhibit in support 1 of their Opposition. (ECF Nos. 7, 8). Specifically, Respondents seek to file under seal an 2 excerpt from Petitioner’s medical records from Otay Mesa Detention Center. (ECF Nos. 3 7, 8). The Court (1) grants Respondent’s motion to file ECF No. 8 under seal and (2) 4 orders, sua sponte, the sealing of Exhibit B to Petitioner’s motion for temporary restraining 5 order, ECF No. 5-3. 6 “There is a presumptive right of public access to court records based upon the 7 common law and the first amendment.” Rashidiasl v. MEP (ESIS/ARCH/CHUBB), No. 8 23-CV-0325-GPC-DEB, 2025 WL 3241124, at *1 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2025) (citations 9 omitted). “District courts in this circuit have concluded that the need to protect medical 10 privacy qualifies as a compelling reason to seal records.” Id. (citations omitted). “[S]ome 11 courts have gone so far as to seal medical information sua sponte.” Id. (citing San Ramon 12 Reg’l Med. Ctr., Inc. v. Principal Life Ins. Co., No. 10–cv–02258–SBA, 2011 WL 89931, 13 at *1 n.1 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2011)). Because Respondents’ lodged document is an excerpt 14 from Petitioner’s medical records, the Court finds there are compelling reasons to seal ECF 15 No. 8. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Respondents’ Motion to Seal. For the same 16 reasons, the Court ORDERS, sua sponte, the sealing of Exhibit B to Petitioner’s motion 17 for temporary restraining order, ECF No. 5-3. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk of Court to 18 seal ECF No. 5-3 (Exhibit B to Petitioner’s TRO Motion) and ECF No. 8. 19 Additionally, the Court is concerned that other docket items, currently publicly 20 available, may also contain private or sensitive information.1 Therefore, the Court further 21 ORDERS the Parties to review the docket items to determine whether other documents 22 contain private or sensitive information, such that the documents should be withdrawn and 23 refiled with redactions or, alternatively, sealed. The Parties shall review the docket items 24 and take any appropriate actions, including but not limited to moving to seal select 25 documents, within fourteen days of entry of this Order. 26

27 1 Specifically, the Court has concerns that several documents reveal the birthdates of third parties. See 28 1 IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 || Dated: December 16, 2025 3 Yn. L4\ Hon. Dana M. Sabraw 4 United States District Judge 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28