Strojnik v. Driftwood Hospitality Management LLC ( 2021 )

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Peter Strojnik, No. CV-20-01532-PHX-DJH 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Driftwood Hospitality Management LLC, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 Pending before the Court in this consolidated action is Defendants Xenia Hotels and 16 Resorts, Inc.; XHR Phoenix Palms, LLC; and XHR Scottsdale Ranch, LLC’s (collectively 17 “Xenia”) Motion to File Fee Agreements Under Seal (Doc. 85). Plaintiff has not filed a 18 response, but one is not necessary. The Motion is denied. 19 The public has a general right to court documents, but this right is not absolute. 20 Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). A party 21 seeking to seal a document must give compelling reasons supported by specific factual 22 findings. Id. Generally, compelling reasons exist when documents might become “a 23 vehicle for improper purposes . . . .” Id. at 1179 (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 24 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978)). 25 Xenia seeks to seal its fee agreement with counsel because it “contains confidential 26 information relating to the nature of the case, the nature of the representation and the scope 27 and terms of counsel’s engagement.” (Doc. 85 at 3). Xenia argues that this information is 28 meant to be communicated between an attorney and client and that there “is little if any benefit that the public would glean” from seeing the agreement. (/d.) 2 The Court finds, Xenia has not demonstrated how the fee agreements could be used 3|| for an improper purpose. Furthermore, the public’s right to court documents is not 4|| overcome just because a party thinks the public would have little to glean from the 5 || documents in question. Therefore, Xenia has not provided compelling reasons or specific 6 || facts warranting a seal of its fee agreements. 7 Accordingly, 8 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Xenia’s Motion to File Fee Agreements Under Seal (Doc. 85) is denied. 10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Xenia shall file its fee agreements, as directed 11 || by the Court’s prior Order (Doc. 83) on the public record within three (3) days of this 12 || Order’s entry. 13 Dated this 19th day of November, 2021. 14 15 Ye SZ 16 norable' Diang/4. Hunfetewa 17 United States District Fudge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 _2-