M.L. v. craigslist Inc

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 M.L. , Case No. 3:19-cv-06153-BHS-TLF 7 Plaintiff, v. ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 8 SEAL craigslist Inc. et al.,, 9 Defendants. 10

11 This matter comes before the Court on 2005 Investors LLC’s Stipulated Motion to 12 Seal (Dkt. 171) and craigslist Inc.’s Unopposed Motion to Seal (Dkt. 178). This matter 13 has been referred to the undersigned Magistrate Judge. Mathews, Sec’y of. H.E.W. v. 14 Weber, 423 U.S. 261 (1976); 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B); Local Rule MJR 4(a)(4); Dkt. 19. 15 For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants both motions to seal. 16 Under Local Civil Rule 5(g), there is a strong presumption of public access to the 17 court’s files which a party must overcome before filing documents under seal. The Court 18 issued a Protective Order explaining that there is a compelling interest in protecting 19 plaintiff’s identity to prevent sex trafficking perpetrator(s) from obtaining plaintiff’s 20 identity, contact information, location of her residence or other private information. Dkt. 21 135 at ¶ 2. The Protective Order allows plaintiff to proceed pseudonymously and 22 requires that any party asserting a need to identify plaintiff in a briefing to file a motion to 23 seal the record. Dkt. 135 at ¶ 2. 24 1 Plaintiff and 2005 Investors LLC inform the Court that the parties need to identify 2 plaintiff and disclose plaintiff’s personal identifying information to properly litigate 2005 3 Investors LLC’s motion for partial summary judgment. Dkt. 171. Similarly, craigslist Inc., 4 states that their motion for partial summary judgment will necessarily identify plaintiff 5 and rely on disclosing plaintiff’s personal identifying information. Dkt. 178.

6 Based on the pending motions and accompanying declarations (Dkt. 171, 172, 7 178), the Court ORDERS: 8 1. Compelling interests in plaintiff’s privacy and safety warrant proceeding 9 under seal; 10 2. 2005 Investors LLC’s Motion to Seal (Dkt. 171) and craigslist Inc.’s Motion 11 to Seal (Dkt. 178) are GRANTED; 12 3. The unredacted documents currently filed under seal (Dkt. 179-183) shall 13 remain under seal; 14 4. If any of the parties’ subsequent filings related to the two pending motions

15 for summary judgment (Dkt. 173, 175, 179, 180) reference or disclose 16 plaintiff’s personal identifying information, the parties are directed to file 17 the documents under seal. 18 5. The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Order to the parties. 19 Dated this 10th day of May, 2021. 20 21 A 22 Theresa L. Fricke 23 United States Magistrate Judge