(PC) Melendez v. Diaz ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOHN MELENDEZ, et al., CASE NO. 1:20-CV-01393-ADA-CDB 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ APPLICATION TO SEAL DOCUMENTS AND 13 v. SUPPORTING MATERIALS FOR IN CAMERA INSPECTION 14 DIAZ, et al., 15 Defendants. (Doc. 64) 16 17 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ “Notice of Request to File Documents Under Seal for In 18 Camera Inspection,” filed June 16, 2023 (Doc. 64), in which Defendants request the Court seal certain 19 documents and a declaration relating to Plaintiffs’ pending motion to compel (Doc. 61). The Court also 20 received via email on June 16, 2023, the documents Defendants seek to seal for the Court’s in camera 21 inspection, a “Request to Seal Documents,” and “Declaration of Juliet Lompa” in support of the 22 application to seal which, as referenced in Defendants’ notice (Doc. 64), have not been provided to 23 Plaintiffs. According to Defendants’ declaration, Plaintiffs do not oppose the request to file the 24 referenced documents under seal for in camera inspection only.1 25 1 Plaintiffs non-opposition is subject to the following conditions: “Without waiver of any 26 argument as to the fact that the documents must be produced under the Federal Rules and without any admission that the grounds asserted by the Defendants for withholding the documents are meritorious, I 27 acknowledge that the privilege log describes the documents at issue (to the extent that Plaintiffs know the entirety of the universe of documents at issue) in a matter that is sufficiently accurate to comply with 28 the rules.” 1 The Court has reviewed the Defendants’ submissions, including the documents proposed for 2 || sealing, and considered the factors set forth in Oregonian Publ’g Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. of Or., 3 || 920 F.2d 1462 (9th Cir. 1990). The Court finds that, for the reasons stated in Defendants’ Request to 4 || Seal Documents and the declaration by R. Villalba (Doc. 63-1), sealing documents Bates OAG 0357- 5 || 0860 serves a compelling interest. The Court further finds that, in the absence of closure, the 6 || compelling interests identified by the Defendants would be harmed. In light of the public filing of 7 || Defendants’ unopposed request to seal and related declaration (Docs. 63-1, 64), the Court further finds 8 || that there are no additional alternatives to sealing the unredacted documents that would adequately 9 || protect the compelling interests identified by Defendants. 10 ACCORDINGLY, pursuant to Local Rule 141(b) and based upon the representations and 11 || accompanying declarations submitted in support of Defendants’ request, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED 12 || that documents Bates OAG 0357-0860 and Defendants’ Request to Seal Documents shall be SEALED 13 || until further order of this Court. 14 No later than June 23, 2023, the Defendants SHALL submit documents Bates OAG 0357-0860, 15 || along with Defendants’ “Request to Seal Documents” and “Declaration of Juliet Lompa” (both 16 |] previously submitted via email to the undersigned’s chambers on June 16, 2023) for sealing by email to 17 || ApprovedSealed @caed.uscourts.gov. 18 || TT IS SO ORDERED. | Dated: _ June 20, 2023 | Wr bo 20 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28