Howell v. Leprino Foods Company ( 2022 )

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 5 ANDREW HOWELL, on behalf of CASE NO. 1:18-cv-01404-AWI-BAM himself and on behalf of all other 6 similarly situated individuals ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 7 Plaintiff REQUEST TO SEAL DOCUMENTS 8 v. (Doc. No. 85) 9 LEPRINO FOODS COMPANY, a Colorado Corporation; LEPRINO 10 FOODS DAIRY PRODUCTS COMPANY, a Colorado Corporation; 11 and DOES 1–50, inclusive, 12 Defendants 13 14 15 Currently before the Court is the request of Plaintiff Andrew Howell to file under seal 16 indefinitely, pursuant to Local Rule 141, Defendant Leprino Foods Company’s training policies 17 regarding the use of its time clocks and time keeping system, and portions of its Handbook 18 policies, which, under Defendants’ representation, contains proprietary and confidential business 19 information. See Doc. 85. 20 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records 21 and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City & Cty. of 22 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 23 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). “[J]udicial records are public documents almost by definition, and 24 the public is entitled to access by default.” Id. at 1180. This “federal common law right of access” 25 to court documents generally extends to “all information filed with the court,” and “creates a 26 strong presumption in favor of access to judicial documents which can be overcome only by 27 showing sufficiently important countervailing interests.” Phillips ex. Rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. 28 Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1212 (9th Cir. 2002) (citations and quotation marks omitted). Two 1 | standards govern whether documents should be sealed: a “compelling reasons” standard, which 2 | applies to dispositive motions, and a “good cause” standard, which applies to non-dispositive 3 | discovery type motions. Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179-80; see also Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass'n, 4 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 2010). The “good cause” standard, which is applicable here, 5 | presents a lower burden for the party wishing to seal documents. Pintos, 605 F.3d at 678. Courts 6 | determine whether good cause exists to protect the information from being disclosed to the public 7 | by “balancing the needs for discovery against the need for confidentiality.” Id. (quoting Phillips, 8 |307 F.3d at 1213). 9 Plaintiff suggests there is good cause to seal the portions of the training policies and 10 | Handbook policies at issue because they contain “propriety and confidential information, and have 11 designated as confidential pursuant to the Stipulated Protective Order as agreed to by the 12 | Parties.” Doc. 85 at 2. Plaintiff identifies these documents as Exhibits A, E, F, G, and H to the 13 | Declaration of Ryan A Crist. Having considered the documents at issue and Defendants’ lack of 14 | opposition to Plaintiff's motion to seal, the Court concludes that Plaintiff has sufficiently shown 15 | good cause for filing the documents under seal. 16 ORDER 17 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 18 | 1. Plaintiffs request to seal (Doc. No. 85) is HEREBY GRANTED; 19 Exhibits A, E, F, G, and H to the Declaration of Ryan A Crist, and the references thereto in 20 Plaintiff's Memorandum of Points and Authorities in support of his Motion for Class 21 Certification, shall be filed and maintained under seal; and 22 |3. Plaintiff will e-mail Exhibits A, E, F, G, and H to the Declaration of Ryan A Crist to: 23 ApprovedSealed @caed.uscourts.gov for filing under seal. 24 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 96 | Dated: _March 8, 2022 — 7 Sz 7 Cb Lec — SENIOR DISTRICT JUDGE 27 28