(HC) Potts v. Gastelo ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KEVIN POTTS, Case No. 1:20-cv-01236-NONE-HBK 12 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING PETITIONER’S REQUEST TO FILE DOCUMENT UNDER 13 v. SEAL 14 J. GASTELO, (Doc. No. 50) 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner Kevin Potts, a state prisoner proceeding pro, initiated this action by filing a 18 petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (Doc. No. 1). Petitioner is proceeding 19 on his first amended petition. (Doc. No. 19). Before the Court is Petitioner’s “request to lodge 20 newly obtained evidence and seal documents of Marsden,” which the Court construes as a notice 21 of request to file document under seal. (Doc. No. 50). Petitioner provided notice of his request to 22 Respondent and, as of the date of this Order, Respondent has filed no opposition to the request. 23 There is a “strong presumption in favor of access to court records.” See Foltz v. State 24 Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003). The presumption, however, is 25 not absolute and “can be overridden given sufficiently compelling reasons for doing so.” See id. 26 Petitioner requests to file under seal a summary of a conversation he had with his trial counsel, 27 whom he claims provided him ineffective assistance of counsel. (Doc. No. 50). This summary 28 was appended to Petitioner’s notice as “Exhibit A.” The information contained in the document 1 | is arguably confidential under attorney-client privilege. Accordingly, Petitioner has demonstrated 2 | good cause for filing this document under seal. 3 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 4 1. Petitioner’s request to file documents under seal (Doc. No. 50) is GRANTED. 5 2. The Clerk of Court shall file Exhibit A, which was appended to Petitioner’s notice, 6 | under seal in accordance with Local Rule 141. 7 8 Dated: _ October 20, 2021 ooo. Th. Bareh Hack 9 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA 0 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28