L.V.Q. v. The GEO Group, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 L.V.Q., Case No. 1:24-cv-00656-KES-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING UNOPPOSED REQUEST TO SEAL DOCUMENTS 13 v. (Doc. 45) 14 THE GEO GROUP, INC., 15 Defendant. 5-DAY DEADLINE 16 17 Pending before the Court is the Plaintiff’s unopposed notice of request to seal documents, filed on 18 July 30, 2025 (Doc. 45), and mailed to the undersigned’s chambers, along with a request to seal documents 19 and the documents sought to be sealed. Plaintiff requests the Court seal his declaration in support of his 20 opposition (Doc. 44) to Defendant’s motion to appoint guardian ad litem (Doc. 39). 21 Plaintiff requests the Court seal this document as the Court has allowed Plaintiff to proceed under 22 pseudonym (see Doc. 6) and, thus, Plaintiff’s full name should be redacted. Plaintiff requests the Court 23 to seal the unredacted version of Plaintiff’s declaration and allow the publicly filed version to include 24 redactions of Plaintiff’s name. See (Doc. 45). 25 The Court has considered the factors set forth in Oregonian Publ’g Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. 26 of Or., 920 F.2d 1462 (9th Cir. 1990). The Court finds that, for the reasons stated in Plaintiff’s request, 27 sealing Plaintiff’s declaration containing his name serves a compelling interest. The Court further finds 28 that, in the absence of closure, the compelling interests identified by the Plaintiff in his request would be 1 harmed. In light of the public filing of the redacted documents (Doc. 44-1), the Court further finds that 2 || there are no additional alternatives to sealing Plaintiffs declaration that would adequately protect the 3 || compelling interests identified. 4 Conclusion and Order 5 Accordingly, pursuant to Local Rule 141 and based upon the representations contained in 6 || Plaintiffs notice and request (Doc. 45), IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's declaration in support 7 || of his opposition (Doc. 44) to Defendant’s motion to appoint guardian ad litem shall be SEALED until 8 || further order of this Court. 9 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED within (5) days of issuance of this Order, Plaintiff shall submit a 10 || copy of this Order, the Request to Seal Documents, and unredacted document to be sealed by email to the 11 || Operations Section of the Clerk of the Court: ApprovedSealed @caed.uscourts.gov. 12 || IT IS SO ORDERED. 'S|| Dated: _ August 4, 2025 | □□ D 14 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28