DOE v. Life Insurance Company of North America ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 JOHN DOE, Case No. 20-cv-00392-JD 8 Plaintiff, ORDER RE PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO 9 Vv. PROCEED UNDER PSEUDONYM 10 LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF Re: Dkt. No. 3 NORTH AMERICA, et al., Defendants. 5 13 The Court has reviewed plaintiff's request to proceed with this action under a fictitious 14 || name. Dkt. No. 3. The request is granted on a preliminary basis. 3 15 Our federal courts have a strong tradition of transparent litigation. See Does I thru XXIII y. 16 || Advanced Textile Corp., 214 F.3d 1058, 1067 (2000) (the “use of fictitious names runs afoul of the 5 17. || public’s common law right of access to judicial proceedings, and Rule 10(a)’s command that the 5 1g || title of every complaint ‘include the names of all the parties.’”) (citations omitted). The Court is 19 || consequently unwilling to permanently grant broad anonymity to the plaintiff at this stage of the 20 || case, when no defendant has been served or has appeared. 2] Plaintiff may proceed with the service of his complaint under a pseudonym. If he wishes 22 || to maintain that status, he may renew his request in an administrative motion filed with notice to 23 || defendants, within 21 days of effectuating service. The Court will then re-visit the matter after 34 || defendants have had an opportunity to respond to plaintiff's request. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 Dated: March 6, 2020 27 JAMES#PONATO 28 United Btates District Judge