Peoples v. Children's Hospital of Central California ( 2019 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 YVONNE PEOPLES, Case No. 1:19-cv-00272-LJO-SKO 8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S REQUEST TO SEAL DOCUMENTS IN 9 v. ACCORDANCE WITH LOCAL RULE 141 10 CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA, 11 (Doc. 43) Defendant. 12 13 On March 14, 2019, the Court granted Defendant’s request to seal the eight-page 14 “Settlement Agreement and Release” entered into between the parties on October 11, 2016 (the 15 “Settlement Agreement”). (See Docs. 6, 9.) 16 On August 15, 2019, Defendant submitted a request to seal (the “Request to Seal”) the 17 unredacted version of its Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant’s 18 Renewed Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss or Stay Litigation (the “Memorandum of 19 Points and Authorities”). (See Doc. 43.) Defendant’s Request to Seal states that the Memorandum 20 of Points and Authorities “refers to the provisions” of the previously-sealed Settlement Agreement. 21 (Id. at 1.) Defendant attached the unredacted version of the Memorandum of Points and Authorities 22 to the Request to Seal submitted to the Court and opposing counsel. (See id. at 1–2.) 23 Pursuant to Local Rule 141(b), a request to seal a document “shall set forth the statutory or 24 other authority for sealing, the requested duration, the identity, by name or category, of persons to 25 be permitted access to the documents, and all other relevant information.” L.R. 141(b). “Only if 26 good cause exists may the Court seal the information from public view after balancing ‘the needs 27 for discovery against the need for confidentiality.’” Koloff v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., No. 1 113CV02060AWIJLT, 2014 WL 12573330, at *1 (E.D. Cal. July 9, 2014) (quoting Pintos v. Pac. 2 Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 678 (9th Cir. Cal. 2010)). A party may submit an opposition to a 3 request to seal documents within three days of the date of service of the request. L.R. 141(c). 4 Plaintiff Yvonne Peoples has not submitted an opposition to Defendant’s Request to Seal, 5 and the time to do so has expired. See id. Defendant’s Request to Seal is therefore deemed 6 unopposed. Defendant has complied with Local Rule 141, and in view of the document’s 7 references to the previously-sealed Settlement Agreement, the Court finds that good cause exists to 8 allow Defendant to file under seal the unredacted version of its Memorandum of Points and 9 Authorities. 10 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s unopposed Request to Seal (Doc. 43), and 11 ORDERS that the unredacted version of Defendant’s Memorandum of Points and Authorities in 12 Support of Defendant’s Renewed Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss or Stay Litigation be 13 FILED UNDER SEAL in accordance with Local Rule 141(e)(2). Defendant may file on the docket 14 a redacted version of its Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant’s 15 Renewed Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss or Stay Litigation. 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. 17 Sheila K. Oberto 18 Dated: August 20, 2019 /s/ . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27