North American Company for Life and Health Insurance v. Swall ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 NORTH AMERICAN COMPANY FOR No. 1:20-cv-00384-NONE-SAB LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE, 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO SEAL 13 v. 14 (Doc. No. 32.) MICHELLE SWALL, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 North American Company for Life and Health Insurance has requested leave to file its 19 motion for summary judgment and related exhibits and materials under seal pursuant to L.R. 141. 20 (Doc. No. 32.) Defendant does not object. (Id., ¶ 3.) The court has examined the records for 21 which sealing is requested and finds that they consist either entirely or very substantially of 22 materials pertaining to defendant’s sensitive medical history and/or plaintiff’s confidential 23 underwriting guidelines. 24 When a party seeks to seal documents related to a dispositive motion, it must demonstrate 25 “compelling reasons” for doing so. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 26 1095 (9th Cir. 2016). “Courts throughout the Ninth Circuit have recognized that the need to 27 protect medical privacy generally qualifies as a compelling reason to seal records.” Weisberg v. 28 Takeda Pharms. U.S.A., Inc., No. CV 18-784 PA (JCX), 2018 WL 6252458, at *2 (C.D. Cal. July 1 | 3, 2018) (collecting cases). Similarly, sealing or redaction is appropriate for material that 2 | contains sensitive and confidential business information that might “harm a litigant’s competitive 3 | standing.” See Ctr. for Auto Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097. Internal insurance underwriting guidelines 4 | qualify for this treatment. 5 Therefore, the court finds compelling reasons to seal the requested documents and further 6 | finds that redaction is not a practical option because the sealable material is widely interspersed 7 | within the motion and related documentation and extensive redaction would result in a publicly 8 | available filing that would be of no value. Accordingly, the request to seal (Doc. No. 32) is 9 | GRANTED. 10 | IT IS SO ORDERED. a " "| pated: _ October 26, 2021 LL 1 Yrod 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28