Lori Jacobs v. Seattle Children’s Hospital

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 LORI JACOBS, CASE NO. C24-0874-JCC 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 SEATTLE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, 13 Defendant. 14

15 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion to seal (Dkt. No. 16). While the 16 public has a common law right to inspect and copy public records, including those from judicial 17 proceedings, these rights are not absolute. Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 18 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003). They must yield when (1) sealing a document serves a compelling 19 interest, (2) that is substantially likely to be harmed if the document is not sealed, and (3) there 20 are no less restrictive alternatives for protecting the interest. United States v. Doe, 870 F.3d 991, 21 998 (9th Cir. 2017). In this instance, Plaintiff fails to meet the standard(s) above for sealing the 22 entire record. Nevertheless, certain disclosures contained within Plaintiff’s complaint as 23 originally filed (Dkt. No. 1) do appear to meet this standard. 24 Thus, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s motion in part and DENIES the motion in part and 25 DIRECTS the Clerk to seal Plaintiff’s complaint (Dkt. No 1) and to file a redacted version of the 26 complaint as attached herein. 1 It is so ORDERED this 8th day of December 2025. A 2 3 4 John C. Coughenour 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 6

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