LeGrand v. Abbott Laboratories

District Court, N.D. California·Decided July 15, 2025·No. 3:22-cv-05815·Unknown

Opinion

CONDALISA LEGRAND, Case No. 22-cv-05815-TSH

Plaintiff, ORDER RE: ADMINISTRATIVE v. MOTIONS TO FILE UNDER SEAL

ABBOTT LABORATORIES, Re: Dkt. Nos. 137, 161, 162, 170, 171 Defendant.

Condalisa LeGrand brings this putative class action against Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott”), alleging certain statements on the labels of Abbott’s Ensure® nutrition drinks are false and misleading. ECF No. 116 (Second Amended Complaint). Pending before the Court are two administrative motions to file under seal brought by LeGrand (ECF Nos. 137, 171) and three administrative motions to file under seal brought by Abbott (ECF Nos. 161, 162, 170). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART LeGrand’s first Motion, DENIES LeGrand’s second Motion, DENIES Abbott’s first Motion, GRANTS Abbott’s second Motion, and DENIES Abbott’s third Motion.1 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597, n.7 (1978)). Courts generally apply a “compelling reasons” standard when considering motions to seal, recognizing that “a strong presumption in favor of access is the starting point.” Id. (cleaned up). Parties seeking to seal judicial records relating to motions that are “more than tangentially related to the underlying cause of action,” Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1099 (9th Cir. 2016), bear the burden of overcoming the presumption with “compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings that outweigh the general history of access and the public policies favoring disclosure,” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178–79 (cleaned up). By contrast, a “good cause showing” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) “will suffice to keep sealed records attached to non-dispositive motions.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180. Here, the documents at issue in LeGrand’s Administrative Motions (ECF Nos. 137, 171) were filed in connection with her Motion for Class Certification and corresponding Reply (ECF Nos. 137-3, 168). The documents at issue in Abbott’s first and second Administrative Motions (ECF Nos. 161, 162) were filed in connection with its Opposition to the Motion for Class Certification (ECF No. 161-4). Motions for Class Certification, along with their attached documents, are more than tangentially related to the merits of a case. See, e.g., Guynn-Neupane v. Mahna Legal Serv., LLC, No. 19-cv-02652-VKD, 2021 WL 4481661, at *1 n.3 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2021) (applying compelling reasons standard to motions to seal documents relating to class certification); Adtrader, Inc. v. Google LLC, No. 17-cv-07082-BLF, 2020 WL 6395513, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2020) (same); Yan Mei Zheng v. Toyota Motor Corp., No. 17-cv-06591-BLF, 2019 WL 6841324, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 16, 2019) (same). Accordingly, the compelling reasons standard applies to LeGrand’s administrative motions and to Abbott’s first and second administrative motions. The documents at issue in Abbott’s third Administrative Motion (ECF No. 170) were filed by Abbott in connection with its Reply in Support of its Daubert Motion to Exclude (ECF No. 170-4). Where, as here, a Daubert motion pertains to central issues bearing on a motion for class certification, the compelling reasons standard applies. Cf. Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1100 (treating Daubert motion as dispositive because it “pertain[ed] to central issues bearing on see also Fodera v. Equinox Holdings, Inc., 341 F.R.D. 616, 635 (N.D. Cal. 2022) (applying compelling reasons standard to documents bearing on predominance). Accordingly, the compelling reasons standard applies to Abbott’s third administrative motion. Civil Local Rule 79-5 supplements the “compelling reasons” standard. Exeltis, 2020 WL 2838812, at *1. Where, as here, a filing party (the “Filing Party”) seeks to seal a filed document because that document has been designated as confidential by another party (the “Designating Party”), the Filing Party must file an Administrative Motion to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed. CIV. L.R. 79-5(f). This motion must identify each document or portions thereof for which sealing is sought. Id. “Within 7 days of the motion's filing, the Designating Party must file a statement and/or declaration” including “a specific statement of the applicable legal standard and the reasons for keeping a document under seal.” Id. at 79-5(c)(1), (f). That statement must include (i) the legitimate private or public interests that warrant sealing; (ii) the injury that will result if sealing is denied; and (iii) why a less restrictive alternative to sealing is not sufficient. Id. at 79-5(c)(1). A failure to file a statement or declaration may result in the unsealing of the provisionally sealed document without notice to the Designating Party. Id. Under Civil Local Rule 79-5, a motion to seal a party’s own document must include “a specific statement of the applicable legal standard and the reasons for keeping a document under seal, including an explanation of . . . why a less restrictive alternative to sealing is not sufficient.” Id. (emphasis in original). The motion must also include “a proposed order that is narrowly tailored to seal only the sealable material.” Id. at 79-5(c)(3). “A party must . . . avoid wherever possible sealing entire documents (as opposed to merely redacting the truly sensitive information in a document).” Id. at 79-5(a). “Supporting declarations may not rely on vague boilerplate language or nebulous assertions of potential harm but must explain with particularity why any document or portion thereof remains sealable under the applicable legal standard.” Bronson v. Samsung Elecs. Am., Inc., No. C 18-02300 WHA, 2019 WL 7810811, at *1 (N.D. Cal. May 28, 2019) (citing CIV. L.R. 79-5). “Reference to a stipulation or protective order that allows a party to designate certain documents as confidential is not sufficient to establish that a document, or A. ECF No. 137 On January 23, 2025, LeGrand filed an Administrative Motion to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed, pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5, in connection with her Motion for Class Certification. ECF Nos. 137, 137-3. LeGrand moves to file sixteen documents under seal on the basis that they were designated as “Confidential” or “Highly Confidential” by Abbott: • Declaration of Melanie R. Monroe (“Monroe Decl.”), Ex. 2 (ECF No. 137-4) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 7 (ECF No. 137-5) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 8 (ECF No. 137-6) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 9 (ECF No. 137-7) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 10 (ECF No. 137-8) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 11 (ECF No. 137-9) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 19 (ECF No. 137-10) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 20 (ECF No. 137-11) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 21 (ECF No. 137-12) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 23 (ECF No. 137-13) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 24 (ECF No. 137-14) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 25 (ECF No. 137-15) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 26 (ECF No. 137-16) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 27 (ECF No. 137-17) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 29 (ECF No. 137-18) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 31 (ECF No. 137-19) ECF No. 137. LeGrand also seeks sealing of certain portions of three documents on the basis that they quote from and discuss the above documents: • LeGrand’s Motion for Class Certification (“Mot. Cert.”) (ECF No. 137-3) • Expert Declaration of Dr. Michael Greger (“Greger Decl.”) (ECF No. 137-20) Id. On January 30, 2025, Abbott responded to LeGrand’s first Administrative Motion requesting sealing of the following thirteen documents identified by LeGrand: • Monroe Decl., Ex. 2 (91:20–23; 104:1, 5–7, 20–24; 167:1–21; 209:2–6; 221:1–3) • Monroe Decl., Ex. 7 (4-6, 13–14, 16) • Monroe Decl.,

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