Perez v. Attorney General of the State of Nevada

Opinion

Rene L. Valladares Federal Public Defender Nevada State Bar No. 11479 *Rick A. Mula Assistant Federal Public Defender Illinois Bar No. 6331934 411 E. Bonneville Ave., Ste. 250 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 388-6577 Rick_Mula@fd.org *Attorney for Petitioner Joseph Perez UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA Joseph Perez, Case No. 2:18-cv-02077-KJD-VCF Petitioner, Unopposed motion to seal exhibit v. The Attorney General of the State of Nevada; N.D.O.C., et al., Respondents. Petitioner Joseph Perez respectfully requests that the Court order the Clerk to seal a confidential medical record located on the docket at ECF No. 25-1. While courts prefer the public retain access to judicial filings and documents, see Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978), a party may request sealing of a judicial record by demonstrating “compelling reasons” to prevent public access, see Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). Here, Mr. Perez has “compelling reasons” to request sealing this document. The exhibit located at ECF No. 25-1 contains detailed personal and medical information related to Mr. Perez’s mental health diagnoses. It is generally appropriate for courts to seal documents containing this type of medical information. See, e.g., Williams v. Nevada Dep’t of Corr., No. 2:13-cv-00941-JAD-VCF, 2014 WL 3734287, at *1 (D. Nev. July 29, 2014) (stating “the need to protect medical privacy has qualified as a ‘compelling reason[]’ for sealing records,” and collecting cases). Mr. Perez therefore requests the Court issue an order directing the Clerk to seal ECF No. 25-1. On March 31, 2022, counsel contacted Deputy Attorney General Katrina Samuels and informed her of this request. Attorney Samuelson had no objection to the request. Dated April 4, 2022. Respectfully submitted, Rene L. Valladares Federal Public Defender /s/Rick A. Mula Rick A. Mula Assistant Federal Public Defender IT IS SO ORDERED: United States District Judge Dated: 4/7/2022