Morris v. GEICO Casualty Company

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 * * *

4 MARK MORRIS, an individual, Case No. 2:20-cv-00764-JCM-EJY

5 Plaintiff,

6 v. ORDER

7 GEICO INSURANCE AGENCY, INC., d/b/a GEICO CASUALTY COMPANY, a Foreign 8 Corporation; DOE EMPLOYEES I-V and ROE COMPANIES I-V, 9 Defendants. 10 11 Before the Court is Defendant GEICO Casualty Company’s Motion to Seal Motion for 12 Partial Summary and/or Motion to Bifurcate Plaintiff’s Extracontractual Causes of Action Pursuant 13 to Local Rule IA 10-5. ECF No. 18. No opposition to this Motion was filed by Plaintiff. 14 As the party seeking to seal a judicial record, Defendant must meet its burden of overcoming 15 the strong presumption in favor of access and public policies favoring disclosure. Kamakana v. City 16 and Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-79 (9th Cir. 2006) (holding that those who seek to 17 maintain the secrecy of documents attached to dispositive motions must meet the high threshold of 18 showing that “compelling reasons” support secrecy). The private interest in protecting personal data 19 identifiers, including “home addresses, financial account numbers, [and] phone numbers,” may 20 outweigh the public interest in disclosure. Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Consumer Def., Case No. 2:18- 21 cv-00030-JCM-PAL, 2018 WL 3997260, at *3 (D. Nev. Aug. 21, 2018). Notwithstanding, any 22 request to seal documents must be “narrowly tailored” to remove from the public sphere only the 23 material that warrants secrecy. Florence v. Cenlar Fed. Savings & Loan, Case No. 2:16-cv-00587- 24 GMN-NJK, 2017 WL 1078637, at *2 (D. Nev. Mar. 20, 2017) (internal citations omitted). 25 Accordingly, “[t]o the extent any confidential information can be easily redacted while leaving 26 meaningful information available to the public, the Court must order that redacted versions be filed 27 rather than sealing entire documents.” Aevoe Corp. v. AE Tech. Co., No. 2:12-CV-00053-GMN, 1 The Court has considered Defendant’s Motion to Seal and the information sought to be 2 sealed. Exhibits D and H, which Defendant did not attach as separate documents, contain Plaintiff’s 3 full Social Security Number, mailing address, phone number, and date of birth. The public 4 disclosure of the personal identification information at issue may lead to improper use. However, 5 the Court finds the confidential information can easily be redacted. To that end, Defendant has 6 already filed an amended version of its Motion for Partial Summary and/or Motion to Bifurcate 7 Plaintiff’s Extracontractual Causes of Action, with only Plaintiff’s confidential information 8 redacted. ECF No. 19. 9 Accordingly, 10 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant GEICO Casualty Company’s Motion to Seal 11 Motion for Partial Summary and/or Motion to Bifurcate Plaintiff’s Extracontractual Causes of 12 Action Pursuant to Local Rule IA 10-5 (ECF No. 18) is GRANTED. 13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s unredacted Motion for Partial Summary 14 and/or Motion to Bifurcate Plaintiff’s Extracontractual Causes of Action (ECF No. 17) shall remain 15 sealed. 16 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s redacted Amended Motion for Partial 17 Summary and/or Motion to Bifurcate Plaintiff’s Extracontractual Causes of Action (ECF No. 19) 18 shall remain on the public docket. 19 DATED THIS 16th day of September, 2020. 20

21 ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH 22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26 27