McCoy v. City of Vallejo

District Court, E.D. California·Decided December 20, 2021·No. 2:19-cv-01191·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 KORI MCCOY, et al., No. 2:19–cv–1191–JAM–CKD 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER 13 v. (ECF No. 136) 14 CITY OF VALLEJO, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Pending before the court is defendants’ request to seal certain papers and portions of 18 documents in connection with plaintiffs’ co-pending motion to compel discovery. (ECF 19 Nos. 128, 136.) Although plaintiffs were the ones to file the notice of request to seal (ECF 20 No. 136)—as they are the party bringing the discovery motion—subsequent briefing has clarified 21 that defendants are the only party seeking protection for the documents in question. Plaintiffs, in 22 fact, oppose the request. 23 The Notice of Request to Seal filed publicly on December 8, 2021 requested leave to file 24 under seal the Joint Statement regarding the discovery dispute and all declarations and exhibits in 25 support thereof “because Defendants[] have disclosed the document and/or information contained 26 therein under the ‘Confidential’ designation described in the Court’s Protective Order.” (ECF 27 No. 136.) The same Notice of Request to Seal was also concurrently emailed to the court, along 28 with the Joint Statement and a Dropbox.com link to some 14 supporting exhibits and 1 declarations—some of which themselves contained several sub-exhibits. No actual “Request to 2 Seal” was sent, as it should have been under Local Rule 141(b), and there was no explanation of 3 the need for sealing except the statement that defendants had previously designated the materials 4 as “Confidential.” 5 On December 9, 2021, the undersigned provisionally granted the request to seal, 6 nonetheless, because it appeared there may be good cause to seal at least portions of the materials 7 submitted. (ECF No. 137.) Thus, the documents were filed under seal on the docket at ECF 8 No. 138, and the parties were given several days to email to the court supplemental briefs in 9 support of the request to seal, complying with Local Rule 141 and addressing why good cause 10 exists to seal each specific document. 11 On December 14, 2021, both sides complied. Defendants emailed their supplemental 12 brief and declarations in support—attaching to one of the declarations revised redacted versions 13 of the documents originally (provisionally) filed under seal. Defendants no longer request full 14 sealing of all documents related to the motion to compel; instead, they request permission to file 15 some of the documents fully redacted, others partially redacted, and some with no redactions. 16 Plaintiffs emailed their supplemental brief as well, now opposing the sealing (or other protection) 17 of all the documents, along with a declaration and three exhibits.1 18 I. Legal Standard 19 “[T]here is a ‘strong presumption in favor of access’ to information filed with a court.” In 20 re Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, 661 F.3d 417, 429 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting 21 Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006)). In general, to 22 overcome the presumption, a party seeking to seal judicial records must demonstrate not just 23 “good cause,” but “compelling reasons.” Id. (citations omitted). “Despite this strong preference 24 1 Under the local rules, oppositions to requests to seal are permitted within 3 days of the service 25 of the Notice of Request to Seal. See L.R. 141(c). Because of the odd posture in which this request to seal arose, the court accepts plaintiffs’ opposition—while discounting it somewhat due 26 to the fact that plaintiffs originally consented to (indeed, themselves filed) the initial notice of 27 request to seal. Despite privately contesting the basis for filing the documents under seal, plaintiffs say that they did so as a “professional courtesy” to defendants—and presumably so that 28 plaintiffs could get their motion to compel before the court more speedily. 1 for public access,” the Ninth Circuit has “carved out an exception for sealed materials attached to 2 a discovery motion unrelated to the merits of a case.” Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 3 809 F.3d 1092, 1097 (9th Cir. 2016) (cleaned up). When this exception applies, a party seeking 4 to file under seal “need only satisfy the less exacting ‘good cause’ standard” found in Rule 26(c). 5 Id.; see Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) (stating that a court “may, for good cause, issue an order to 6 protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or 7 expense”). 8 The documents defendants wish to remain filed under seal are all offered in support of the 9 parties’ respective arguments on the pending non-dispositive motion to compel. Thus, as 10 determined in the court’s provisional grant order, defendants must demonstrate good cause for 11 filing these documents under seal.2 See Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 599 12 (1978) (decisions on public access are “best left to the sound discretion of the trial court, a 13 discretion to be exercised in light of the relevant facts and circumstances of the particular case). 14 To establish good cause, first, the party seeking protection (here, defendants) must show 15 that “specific prejudice or harm will result,” absent sealing. See Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. 16 Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th Cir. 2003). “Broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by 17 specific examples or articulated reasoning, do not satisfy the Rule 26(c) test.” Beckman 18 Industries, Inc. v. International Ins. Co., 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th Cir. 1992). “A party asserting 19 good cause bears the burden, for each particular document it seeks to protect, of showing that 20 specific prejudice or harm will result if no protective order is granted.” Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1130. 21 This court’s local rules echo these principles by requiring requests to seal to “describe generally 22 the documents sought to be sealed, the basis for sealing,” and the “statutory or other authority for 23 sealing,” among other things. E.D. Cal. R. 141(b). 24 “Second, if the court concludes that such harm will result from disclosure of the discovery 25 documents, then it must proceed to balance ‘the public and private interests to decide whether 26 [maintaining] a protective order is necessary.’” Roman Catholic, 661 F.3d at 424 (quoting 27

28 2 Plaintiffs do not argue that the higher “compelling interests” standard should apply here. 1 Phillips ex rel. Ests. of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1211 (9th Cir. 2002)) 2 (alteration in Roman Catholic). The Ninth Circuit has instructed district courts to conduct this 3 balancing under the factors identified in Glenmede Trust Co. v. Thompson, 56 F.3d 476, 483 (3d 4 Cir. 1995). See Roman Catholic, 661 F.3d at 424. But even when both analytical steps weigh in 5 favor of protecting the material “a court must still consider whether redacting portions of the 6 discovery material will nevertheless allow disclosure.” Id. at 425. 7 II.

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Related

Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc.
435 U.S. 589 (Supreme Court, 1978)
In Re Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland in Or.
661 F.3d 417 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Phillips v. General Motors Corporation
307 F.3d 1206 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu
447 F.3d 1172 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
Center for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Group, LLC
809 F.3d 1092 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)