(PC) Coleman v. Newsom ( 2023 )

1 ROB BONTA, State Bar No. 202668 HANSON BRIDGETT LLP Attorney General of California PAUL B. MELLO, State Bar No. 179755 2 MONICA N. ANDERSON, State Bar No. 182970 SAMANTHA D. WOLFF, State Bar No. 240280 Senior Assistant Attorney General DAVID C. CASARRUBIAS, State Bar No. 321994 3 DAMON MCCLAIN, State Bar No. 209508 1676 N. California Boulevard, Suite 620 Supervising Deputy Attorney General Walnut Creek, CA 94596 4 ELISE OWENS THORN, State Bar No. 145931 Telephone: (925) 746-8460 NAMRATA KOTWANI, State Bar No. 308741 Fax: (925) 746-8490 5 Deputy Attorneys General E-mail: PMello@hansonbridgett.com 1300 I Street, Suite 125 Attorneys for Defendants 6 P.O. Box 944255 Sacramento, CA 94244-2550 7 Telephone: (916) 210-7318 Fax: (916) 324-5205 8 E-mail: Elise.Thorn@doj.ca.gov Attorneys for Defendants 9 10 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 13 14 RALPH COLEMAN, et al., Case No. 2:90-cv-00520 KJM-DB (PC) 15 Plaintiffs, STIPULATION AND ORDER 16 GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ REQUEST v. TO FILE SUICIDE REPORTS UNDER 17 SEAL PURSUANT TO LOCAL RULE 141 18 GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., 19 Defendants. Judge: The Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller 20 21 22 On July 25, 2022, the court adopted in full the California Department of Corrections and 23 Rehabilitation Annual Suicide Report Proposal for Assuming the Annual Suicide Monitoring 24 Report. (ECF No. 7574 and ECF No. 7592.) As required by the proposal, the California 25 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) filed its 2021 Report on Suicides in 26 CDCR on September 29, 2022. (ECF No. 7615.) The proposal also requires CDCR to submit the 27 individual suicide reports for suicides completed in 2021 to the Special Master and Plaintiffs 28 under separate cover and conditionally lodge them under seal. (ECF No. 7574 at 15.) 1 REQUEST TO SEAL DOCUMENTS 2 Under Local Rule 141, documents may be filed under seal only by written order of the 3 court upon the showing required by applicable law. A party seeking to seal a document must 4 submit a request to the court indicating the statutory or other authority for sealing. The court may 5 properly seal records from disclosure to the public if the party submitting the records articulates 6 compelling reasons to do so. Kamakana v. City & Cnty. Of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th 7 Cir. 2006). On February 25, 2020, this Court ordered that “[t]he provisions of Local Rule 141(c) 8 notwithstanding, all requests to seal documents shall be accompanied by a stipulation of all 9 counsel consenting to the sealing request. (Protective Order, ECF No. 6482.) 10 Defendants request that the Court seal the fifteen individual suicide reports, 446 pages in 11 total, attached as Exhibits A through O to the enclosed letter from CDCR, that, as required under 12 the proposal, have been submitted to the Special Master and Plaintiffs under separate cover. 13 (ECF No. 7574 at 15.) Defendants request, and Plaintiffs agree, that these documents be filed 14 under seal because they contain identifying information that is sensitive, private, confidential, and 15 subject to the protective order entered in this action on February 25, 2020. (Protective Order, 16 ECF No. 6482.) The fifteen suicide reports were provided to the Court by electronic mail 17 concurrently with the submission of this stipulation and [proposed] order. 18 If the Court approves this stipulated request to file under seal, Defendants will file the 19 letter and reports in sealed form to protect the privacy of the inmates referenced in the reports. 20 In light of the foregoing, the parties request that the Court seal the fifteen individual 21 suicide reports indefinitely, and that only the Court, authorized court personnel, Plaintiffs’ 22 counsel, Defendants, and Defendants' counsel be permitted access to these documents. 23 Nothing in this stipulation is intended to modify the Parties’ rights to use the information in 24 the fifteen individual suicide reports in a manner consistent with the protective orders 25 applicable in this case. 26 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 27 28 1 DATED: October 5, 2022 ROB BONTA Attorney General of California 2 DAMON MCCLAIN Supervising Deputy Attorney General 3 4 By: /s/ Elise Owens Thorn 5 ELISE OWENS THORN Deputy Attorney General 6 7 Attorneys for Defendants 8 9 DATED: October 5, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 10 ROSEN BIEN GALVAN & GRUNFELD LLP 11 By: /s/ Michael Nunez 12 13 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 14 15 + + + 16 ORDER 17 The Court, having considered Defendants’ request and the parties’ stipulation, and 18 good cause appearing, hereby grants Defendants’ request to file the individual suicide 19 reports under seal, ECF No. 7619. The Clerk of the Court shall file the individual suicide 20 reports under seal nunc pro tunc to October 5, 2022. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 23 DATED: November 16, 2023. 24 25 26 27 28