(PC) Anderson v. Meier ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 Eric Anderson, No. 2:15-cv-01148-KJM-JDP (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. Tim Virga, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 The court closed this case based on a stipulation for dismissal between the parties. ECF 19 | No. 145. Nonetheless, plaintiff later moved for a preliminary injunction and the assigned 20 | magistrate judge issued findings and recommendations. Findings and Recommendations, ECF 21 | No. 150. The plaintiff filed objections. Obj., ECF No. 151. The court adopted the findings and 22 | recommendations and denied the motion. Order, ECF No. 152. Plaintiff now requests the court 23 | seal his objections, given that they contain information that he says could put him at risk and that 24 | he did not understand would be filed on the public docket. Req. to Seal, ECF No. 153. 25 There is a strong presumption in favor of public access to court records. See Phillips v. 26 | Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir.2002). However, “access to judicial records is 27 | not absolute.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir.2006). The 28 | Ninth Circuit has distinguished between the public's interest in accessing court records filed in 1 connection with nondispositive and dispositive motions. See Phillips, 307 F.3d 1206; Foltz v. 2 State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122 (9th Cir.2003); Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1172; In re 3 Midland Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 686 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir.2012). 4 For a non-dispositive motion, such as the underlying motion for preliminary injunctive 5 relief, “a particularized showing, . . . under the good cause standard of Rule 26(c) will suffice[ ] to 6 warrant” sealing. Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) 7 (alteration in original). As noted, plaintiff represents he did not know his court filing was made 8 public; he says the information he disclosed could “jeopardize ongoing investigations.” Req. to 9 Seal at 1. Given that the information in the objections is entirely unrelated to plaintiff’s initial 10 claims or any dispositive filing, see Findings and Recommendations at 2, and the public nature of 11 his objections may place plaintiff at an increased risk the court finds there is good cause to seal 12 his objections. 13 The court grants the request to seal (ECF No. 153). The Clerk of Court is directed to seal 14 the objections (ECF No. 151). 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 DATED: August 1, 2022.