(PC) Coleman v. Newsom ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 11 12 RALPH COLEMAN, et al., Case No. 2:90-CV-00520- KJM-DB 13 Plaintiffs, ORDER 14 v. 15 Judge: Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller GAVIN NEWSOM, et al. 16 Defendants. 17 18 Good cause appearing, Defendants’ motion to file certain correspondence to the Special 19 Master under seal is GRANTED. 20 “Every court has supervisory power over its own records and files, and access has been 21 denied where court files might have become a vehicle for improper purposes.” Nixon v. Warner 22 Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978). When a party moves to seal a record, the Court 23 looks to the underlying motion and determines whether it is “more than tangentially related to the 24 merits of the case. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir.), cert. 25 denied sub nom. FCA U.S. LLC v. Ctr. for Auto Safety, 137 S. Ct. 38 (2016). When a motion is 26 unrelated or only tangentially related to the merits of the case, the good cause standard applies. Id. 27 at 1097–98. To establish good cause, a party must show “specific prejudice or harm will result” 1 || absent sealing, Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003), 2 || which may include the need “to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, 3 || oppression, or undue burden or expense,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Here, the Court finds that the 4 || good cause standard is met. 5 The Court’s clerk is directed to file the previously conditionally lodged copy of Secretary 6 || Kathleen Allison’s October 15, 2022 letter to Special Master Matthew A. Lopes, Jr. in the record, 7 || under seal until further order of the court. 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 |} DATED: October 18, 2022. 10 1] 12 CHIEF ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28