Vaughn v. Cohen

Opinion

1 THE HONORABLE TIFFANY M. CARTWRIGHT

2 3 4 5

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

7 CAROL VAUGHN, in her representative capacity as Personal Representative of the 8 ESTATE OF MICHAEL A. COHEN, NO. 3:23-cv-06142-TMC 9 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO FILE CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS 10 v. UNDER SEAL

11 LOREN COHEN, et al., NOTED FOR CONSIDERATION: JANUARY 7, 2025 12 Defendants. 13 *** 14 WILLIAM NEWCOMER, 15 Plaintiff, 16 v. 17 LOREN COHEN, et al., 18 Defendants, 19 v. 20 AMARA COHEN, individually, and SUSAN COHEN, Trustee of the Michael Arthur 21 Cohen Spousal Equivalent Access Trust, CAROL VAUGHN, individually, and in her 22 representative capacity as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF 23 MICHAEL COHEN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL 24 REVENUE), and BR NEWCOMER, LLC, 25 Third-Party Defendants. 26 27 1 I. STIPULATION 2 The parties below, through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and 3 respectfully request leave of Court to file under seal the following: Exhibits 12 and 18 to the 4 Declaration of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for 5 Summary Judgment. See Dkts. 149 and 150. 6 1. The Stipulated Protective Order (“SPO”) provides, in relevant part: “Before filing 7 confidential material or discussing or referencing such material in court filings, the filing party 8 shall confer with the designating party, in accordance with Local Civil Rule 5(g)(3)(A), to 9 determine whether the designating party will remove the confidential designation, whether the 10 document can be redacted, or whether a motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is 11 warranted. During the meet and confer process, the designating party must identify in writing 12 within seven business days of the initial request for a meet and confer the basis for sealing the 13 specific confidential information at issue, and the filing party shall include this basis in its 14 motion to seal, along with any objection to sealing the information at issue. Local Civil Rule 5(g) 15 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 16 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. A party who seeks to maintain 17 the confidentiality of its information must satisfy the requirements of Local Civil Rule 18 5(g)(3)(B), even if it is not the party filing the motion to seal. Failure to satisfy this requirement 19 will result in the motion to seal being denied, in accordance with the strong presumption of 20 public access to the Court’s files. Dkt. 112 at ¶ 4.3. 21 2. On December 23, 2024, Loren’s attorneys filed two medical records, four medical 22 expert reports, and the 2019 and 2020 tax returns for M&J Real Estate Investments, LLC, under 23 seal along with a Motion to Seal. See Dkts. 149, 150. 24 3. On January 3, 2025, the parties conferred by email regarding sealing. Based on 25 objections to the sealing of the tax returns, Loren agreed to withdraw the request to seal these 26 records, except as to personal data identifiers listed in LCR 5.2(a). Ms. Vaughn confirmed she 27 does not see a basis to seal the reports by medical experts. Ms. Vaughn confirmed that she would 1 like the two pages of medical records of Decedent at issue to remain under seal. No party objects 2 to the sealing of Decedent’s medical records. 3 4. Compelling reasons justify the sealing of Decedent’s medical records. 4 Understanding that the “compelling reasons” standard applied by the federal courts is stringent 5 and not intended to “rubber stamp” party stipulations, see Kamakana v. City & County of 6 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006), the parties agree that the two pages of the 7 Decedent’s medical records filed by Loren Cohen should be sealed. 8 5. Pursuant to this stipulation, Loren’s attorneys will file the previously sealed tax 9 returns and reports by medical experts in open court, subject to any LCR 5.2(a) redactions and 10 hereby withdraw Loren’s Motion to Seal, (Dkt. 149), as to all documents other than the medical 11 records, which the parties agree should remained sealed at this time. 12 STIPULATED TO AND DATED this 8th day of January, 2025.

13 TERRELL MARSHALL LAW GROUP LAW OFFICES OF JACK B. KRONA, JR. 14 PLLC By: /s/ Jack B. Krona Jr. 15 By: /s/ Adrienne D. McEntee Jack B. Krona, Jr., WSBA No. 42484 Adrienne D. McEntee, WSBA No. 34061 E-mail: j_krona@yahoo.com 16 E-mail: amcentee@terrellmarshall.com 5020 Main Street, Suite H Toby J. Marshall, WSBA No. 32726 Tacoma, WA 98407 17 E-mail: tmarshall@terrellmarshall.com Telephone: (253) 341-9331 18 936 North 34th Street, Suite 300 Seattle, Washington 98103 Attorney for Loren and Holland Cohen, LMC 19 Telephone: (206) 816-6603 Family Trust, BR Real Estate Investments, LLC, Two Bonney Ridge LLC and PC 20 Attorneys for Loren Cohen individually Collections, LLC

21 THOMPSON HOWLE VAUGHN LEE SMART, P.S., INC. 22 By: /s/ Carol Vaughn By: /s/ Marc Rosenberg 23 Carol Vaughn, WSBA No. 16579 Marc Rosenberg, WSBA No. 31034 E-mail: carolv@thompsonhowle.com E-mail: mr@leesmart.com 24 1200 Fifth Avenue, Suite 625 Hildja S. Saas, WSBA No. 37691 Seattle, WA 98101 E-mail: hss@leesmart.com 25 Telephone: (206) 682-8400 701 Pike Street, Suite 1800 26 Seattle, Washington 98101 Personal Representative and attorney for the Telephone: (206) 262-8308 27 Estate of Michael Cohen 1 Attorneys for Counterclaim Defendant Carol Vaughn 2 SMITH ALLING, P.S. KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. 3 By: /s/ Russsell A. Knight By: /s/ Eric R. Laliberte 4 Russell A. Knight, WSBA No. 40614 Eric R. Laliberte, WSBA No. 44840 E-mail: rknight@smithalling.com E-mail: elaliberte@kellerrohrback.com 5 1501 Dock Street 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 6 Tacoma, WA 98402 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (253) 627-1091 Telephone: (206) 623-1900 7 Attorneys for William Newcomer and BR Attorneys for Amara Cohen and Susan Cohen 8 Newcomer, LLC

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Il. ORDER 2 IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 1. The medical records included as Exhibits 12 and 18 to the Declaration of 4 | Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment 5 | shall be filed under seal. 6 2. Tax returns attached as Exhibits 1 to the Declaration of Adrienne D. McEntee in 7 | Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment shall be filed in open court, 8 | subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions. 9 3. The report of expert Dr. Elaine Peskind, attached as Exhibit 14 to the Declaration 10 | of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment 11 | shall be filed in open court, subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions. 12 4. The reports of Dr. Jennifer Piel, attached Exhibits A, B, and D to the Declaration 13 | of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Motions to Exclude Experts, shall be filed in open court, 14 | subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions. 15 16 DATED this 8th day of January, 2025. 17 18 A CCL 19 THE HONORABLE TIFFANY M. CARTWRIGHT 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

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