Pizana v. Sanmedica International LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 28, 2023
Docket1:18-cv-00644
StatusUnknown

This text of Pizana v. Sanmedica International LLC (Pizana v. Sanmedica International LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pizana v. Sanmedica International LLC, (E.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RAUL PIZANA, et al., No. 1:18-cv-00644-ADA-SKO 12 Plaintiffs, 13 v. ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, AND DENYING, IN PART, SANMEDICA’S 14 SANMEDICA INT’L, LLC, et al., REQUEST TO SEAL 15 Defendants. (ECF No. 268) 16 17 I. 18 Procedural Background 19 Pursuant to the Court’s April 27, 2022 order, Plaintiffs filed a third amended complaint 20 (“TAC”) on May 18, 2022. (ECF No. 175.) The TAC added a new cause of action, seven new 21 plaintiffs, and fifteen new defendants. (Compare ECF No. 53 at 1 with ECF No. 175 at 1.) In 22 response, Defendants filed a series of motions to dismiss, motions to strike, and motions to 23 transfer venue. (ECF Nos. 189, 190, 217, 218, 220, 224-1, 231, 234, 236, 237.) Plaintiffs filed 24 two omnibus oppositions. One addressed the merits arguments that Defendants raised. (ECF No. 25 248.) The other responded to challenges to personal jurisdiction and venue. (ECF No. 249.) 26 Plaintiffs also filed a request to seal portions of their jurisdiction-related opposition, which, as 27 filed, contains numerous redactions and exhibits under seal. (ECF No. 250.) The Court, pursuant 28 to its Standing Order in Civil Actions, denied this request as improperly filed and ordered 1 Defendants to file their own request, if they found it necessary. (ECF No. 267.) On March 31, 2 2023, Defendant SanMedica filed a request to seal specific portions of Plaintiffs’ jurisdiction- 3 related opposition as well as certain portions of exhibits that Plaintiffs attached to that motion. 4 (ECF No. 268.) Plaintiffs did not oppose SanMedica’s request. 5 II. 6 Legal Standard 7 Courts have long recognized “a general right to inspect and copy public records and 8 documents, including judicial records and documents.” Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 9 U.S. 589, 597 (1978). A party seeking to seal court records bears the burden of rebutting a strong 10 presumption in favor of the public’s access to those records. See Kamakana v. City and Cnty. of 11 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). The weight of the moving party’s burden varies 12 depending on whether the material relates to a dispositive or non-dispositive motion. See Ctr. for 13 Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1097 (9th Cir. 2016). A dispositive motion is 14 one that “is more than tangentially related to the merits of a case.” Id. at 1101. This definition 15 leaves room to argue about whether a particular motion is dispositive or non-dispositive. Motions 16 to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, and motions for judgment on the pleadings, are, 17 however, indisputably dispositive. Id. at 1098. 18 The moving party must demonstrate “compelling reasons supported by specific factual 19 findings” to seal materials in a dispositive motion. Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 20 F.3d 1122, 1136 (9th Cir. 2003). Compelling reasons exist when the files in question “ ‘might 21 have become a vehicle for improper purposes,’ such as the use of records to gratify private spite, 22 promote public scandal, circulate libelous statements, or release trade secrets.” Kamakana, 447 23 F.3d at 1179 (quoting Nixon, 435 U.S. at 598). Nevertheless, “[t]he mere fact that the production 24 of records may lead to a litigant’s embarrassment, incrimination, or exposure to further litigation 25 will not, without more, compel the court to seal its records.” Id. 26 The “compelling reasons” standard sits in contrast with the “good cause” standard for 27 sealing materials in non-dispositive motions. Id. at 1180. Courts ascertain if good cause exists 28 “by balancing the needs for discovery against the need for confidentiality.” Phillips ex rel. Ests. 1 of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1213 (9th Cir. 2002). To demonstrate a need for 2 confidentiality, the moving party must demonstrate that “particularized harm will result from 3 disclosure of information to the public.” Id. at 1211. “Broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated 4 by specific examples or articulated reasoning” will not suffice. Beckman Indus., Inc. v. Int’l Ins. 5 Co., 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting Cipollone v. Liggett Grp., Inc., 785 F.2d 1108, 6 1121 (3d Cir. 1986)). 7 In any event, the existence of a blanket protective order is not sufficient to demonstrate 8 “good cause,” much less “compelling reasons,” for sealing particular documents. See Foltz, 331 9 F.2d at 1138; San Jose Mercury News, Inc. v. U.S. Dist. Ct. – N. Dist. (San Jose), 187 F.3d 1096, 10 1103 (9th Cir. 1999). 11 III. 12 Discussion 13 A. Plaintiffs improperly attached full deposition transcripts as exhibits to their 14 opposition. 15 As an initial matter, SanMedica asks the Court to strike Exhibits 6, 7, 8, 18, 20, 28, and 16 29. (ECF No. 268 at 3.) Each of these exhibits contains an entire deposition transcript ranging in 17 length from just under 200 pages to just under 2500 pages. SanMedica argues that such an 18 overinclusive use of deposition transcripts is unnecessary when Plaintiffs’ opposition cites 19 sparingly, and sometimes not at all, to them. (Id. at 1–3.) While SanMedica does not provide 20 legal authority to support its request, the Court finds merit in SanMedica’s contention under Local 21 Rule 133(j). Rule 133(j) prohibits parties from including an entire deposition transcript as “part 22 of the official record . . . absent order of the Court.” Rather, if parties wish to enter portions of a 23 deposition into the record in support of a motion, they should attach those excerpts as exhibits. 24 Id. While they cannot include entire deposition transcripts in the record absent a court order, 25 parties relying on portions of a deposition must nevertheless provide full copies of deposition 26 transcripts to both the Court and opposing counsel. Id. 27 Here, Plaintiffs have satisfied the second prong of Rule 133(j) – by attaching full copies of 28 the deposition transcripts to their opposition, both the Court and opposing counsel have access to 1 them. Their attempt to incorporate the entirety of these transcripts into their opposition as 2 exhibits, however, is improper. Moreover, it has made the Court’s job of assessing the validity of 3 SanMedica’s request to seal substantially more difficult than necessary. 4 There is no need to “strike” these depositions because they are not, at this point, part of 5 the record. Rather, the Court will order Plaintiffs to file on the docket only those excerpts of the 6 depositions to which they cite in their opposition. The Court will discuss below which sections 7 Plaintiffs may file and whether any portions of them must be redacted or filed under seal. 8 B. SanMedica’s requests to redact and seal 9 SanMedica requests to seal or redact (1) portions of Exhibits 6–8, (2) all of Exhibit 13, (3) 10 all of Exhibit 14, (4) portions of Exhibit 18, (5) portions of Exhibit 20, (6) portions of Exhibits 11 28–29, and (7) information in Plaintiffs’ jurisdiction-related opposition briefing. (See Declaration 12 of Bodee Gay.) Some of these materials appear among the surplus deposition pages that 13 Plaintiffs provided but that the Court will not permit Plaintiffs to file on the docket pursuant to 14 Local Rule 133(j). Because they will not appear on the docket, the Court will not rule on whether 15 SanMedica has provided “compelling reasons” to seal those portions of the depositions.1 16 i. Exhibits 6–8 – Gina Daines’ deposition transcript and accompanying exhibits 17 Plaintiffs cite to Ms. Daines’ deposition transcript repeatedly throughout their opposition.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Pizana v. Sanmedica International LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pizana-v-sanmedica-international-llc-caed-2023.