Shotwell v. Zillow Group, Inc

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 CASE NO. C17-1387-JCC IN RE ZILLOW GROUP, INC. 10 SECURITIES LITIGATION ORDER 11 12 13 14

15 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated motion to seal (Dkt. No. 16 140). The Court starts from the position that “[t]here is a strong presumption of public access to 17 [its] files.” W.D. Wash. Local Civ. R. 5(g)(3); see Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 18 589, 597 (1978). To overcome that presumption, the movant must show that there are 19 “compelling reasons” to seal the documents at issue. See Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., 20 LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that the “compelling reasons” standard 21 applies to any motion that “is more than tangentially related to the merits of a case”). The Court 22 finds compelling reasons to seal the documents at issue, which contain “confidential” and 23 “highly confidential” information, pursuant to the stipulated protective order governing 24 discovery (Dkt. No. 76). Further, redacted versions of the documents have been filed with the 25 Court. (Dkt. Nos. 144, 145.) Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the motion to seal (Dkt. No. 140) 26 and DIRECTS the Clerk to maintain Docket Numbers 141, 142, 142-1, 142-2, 142-3, 142-4, 1 142-5, and 142-6 under seal until further order of the Court. 2 DATED this 1st day of June 2022. A 3 4 5 John C. Coughenour 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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