Calhoun v. Google LLC ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 PATRICK CALHOUN, et al., Case No. 20-cv-05146-LHK (SVK) 8 Plaintiffs, ORDER ON MOTIONS TO SEAL 9 v. 10 GOOGLE LLC, Re: Dkt. Nos. 273, 280, 288, 289, 293, 296, 308, 313 11 Defendant. 12 Before the Court are several administrative motions to file under seal materials associated 13 with discovery disputes in this case. Dkt. 273, 280, 288, 289, 293, 296, 308, 313; see also Dkt. 14 284, 291, 295. 15 Courts recognize a “general right to inspect and copy public records and documents, 16 including judicial records and documents.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. Of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 17 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Communs., Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 18 (1978)). A request to seal court records therefore starts with a “strong presumption in favor of 19 access.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178 (quoting Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003)). The standard for overcoming the presumption of public access to 20 court records depends on the purpose for which the records are filed with the court. A party 21 seeking to seal court records relating to motions that are “more than tangentially related to the 22 underlying cause of action” must demonstrate “compelling reasons” that support secrecy. Ctr. For 23 Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., 809 F.3d 1092, 1099 (9th Cir. 2016). For records attached to 24 motions that re “not related, or only tangentially related, to the merits of the case,” the lower 25 “good cause” standard of Rule 26(c) applies. Id.; see also Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179. A party 26 moving to seal court records must also comply with the procedures established by Civil Local 27 1 Here, the “good cause” standard applies because the information the parties seek to seal 2 was submitted to the Court in connection with discovery-related motions, rather than a motion that 3 concerns the merits of the case. The Court may reach different conclusions regarding sealing 4 these documents under different standards or in a different context. Having considered the 5 motions to seal, supporting declarations, and the pleadings on file, and good cause appearing, the 6 Court ORDERS as follows: 7 1. Dkt. 273 8 Court’s Ruling 9 Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Sealed Seal 10 Plaintiffs’ Response to Google’s GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Statement re Identification of redacted portions at: confidential technical information 11 Discovery Disputes for Resolution regarding the operations of Google’s 12 Page 1, lines 24-26 products and systems and Page 2, lines 9- confidential business information 13 11, 13-14, 18-20 that Google maintains as confidential in the ordinary course of 14 its business and is not generally known to the public or Google’s 15 competitors. 16 2. Dkt. 280 17 Court’s 18 Document Sought to be Sealed Ruling on Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Motion to Seal 19 June 2, 2021 Hearing GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect confidential 20 Transcript redacted portions at: technical information regarding features of Google’s internal systems and 21 13:2, 13:8, 13:11, operations, including Google’s internal 32:18-20, 34:10, policies, internal data structures, internal 22 identifiers/cookies and their proprietary 34:23-25, 36:23- 23 37:3, 37:8-11, 37:15-f cu on nc ft ii do en ns t, i at lh a int G tho eo og rl de i nm aa ri yn cta oi un rs s a es o f its 16, 37:19-20, 37:22- business and is not generally known to 24 24, 38:3-5, 46:3-11, the public or Google’s competitors. 46:14-15, 46:17-23, 25 46:25, 47:1, 70:20, 70:24, 71:2. 26 27 3. Dkt. 288 1 2 Court’s Ruling Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling 3 Sealed Seal August 12, 2021 Hearing GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect 4 Transcript redacted portions at: confidential technical information regarding features of Google’s 5 12:22-24; 14:3; 53:23 internal systems and operations, 6 including Google’s internal data structures, internal identifiers and 7 their proprietary functions, as well as plaintiff health information that 8 Google maintains as confidential in 9 the ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the 10 public or Google’s competitors. 11 4. Dkt. 289 12 Court’s Document Sought to be Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling 13 Sealed Ruling on Motion to 14 Seal Plaintiffs’ Notice of Motion and GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect 15 Motion to Compel, and redacted portions at: confidential technical information Memorandum of Points and regarding the operation of 16 Authorities in Support thereof (Dkt. Page 1, Lines 20, Google’s products and systems, 17 290) 22-25, 28; including information related to Page 2, Lines 2-6, Google’s internal project and 18 11-14, 16-20, 22-23, Google’s confidential business 26-27; information that was requested by 19 Page 3, Lines 24-27; the State of Texas, State of Page 4, Lines 3 Arizona, and the FTC in 20 confidence that Google maintains 21 as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not 22 generally known to the public or Google’s competitors. 23 24 Declaration of David A. Straite in GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion to redacted portions at: Google’s confidential business 25 Compel (Dkt. 291) Page 2, Lines 18-19, information that was requested by 21-22, 24-25, 27-28; the State of Texas, State of 26 Page 3, Lines 2-3, Arizona, and the FTC in 11-12, 14-15, 17-18, confidence that Google maintains 27 20-21, 23-26 as confidential in the ordinary generally known to the public or 1 Google’s competitors. 2 Exhibit A to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 3 David A. Straite Entire Document technical information regarding the operation of Google’s 4 products and systems, including Google’s logs, internal data 5 structures, internal 6 identifiers/cookies and their proprietary functions and 7 Google’s confidential business information that was requested by 8 the State of Texas in confidence that Google maintains as 9 confidential in the ordinary 10 course of its business and is not generally known to the public or 11 Google’s competitors. 12 Exhibit B to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 13 David A. Straite Entire Document business information that was 14 requested by the State of Texas in confidence that Google maintains 15 as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not 16 generally known to the public or 17 Google’s competitors. 18 Exhibit C to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential David A. Straite Entire Document business information that was 19 requested by the State of Texas in confidence that Google maintains 20 as confidential in the ordinary 21 course of its business and is not generally known to the public or 22 Google’s competitors. 23 Exhibit D to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential David A. Straite Entire Document business information that was 24 requested by the State of Texas in 25 confidence that Google maintains as confidential in the ordinary 26 course of its business and is not generally known to the public or 27 Google’s competitors. Exhibit E to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 1 David A. Straite Entire Document technical information regarding 2 the operation of Google’s products and systems, including 3 Google’s logs, internal data structures, internal identifiers and 4 projects, internal groups, and Google’s confidential business 5 information that was requested by 6 the State of Texas in confidence that Google maintains as 7 confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not 8 generally known to the public or Google’s competitors. 9 10 Exhibit F to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential David A. Straite Entire Document business information that was 11 requested by the State of Texas in confidence that Google maintains 12 as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not 13 generally known to the public or 14 Google’s competitors. 15 Exhibit I to the Declaration of David GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential A. Straite Entire Document business information that was 16 requested by the State of Arizona 17 in confidence that Google maintains as confidential in the 18 ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the 19 public or Google’s competitors. 20 Exhibit J to the Declaration of David GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 21 A. Straite Entire Document business information that was requested by the State of Arizona 22 in confidence that Google maintains as confidential in the 23 ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the 24 public or Google’s competitors. 25 Exhibit K to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 26 David A. Straite Entire Document technical information regarding the operation of Google’s 27 products and systems, including projects and their proprietary 1 functions, and Google’s 2 confidential business information that was requested by the State of 3 Arizona in confidence that Google maintains as confidential 4 in the ordinary course of its business and is not generally 5 known to the public or Google’s 6 competitors. 7 Exhibit L to the Declaration of GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential David A. Straite Entire Document technical information regarding 8 the operation of Google’s products and systems, including 9 Google’s internal identifiers, 10 cookies, and projects and their proprietary functions and 11 Google’s confidential business information that was requested by 12 the State of Arizona in confidence that Google maintains as 13 confidential in the ordinary 14 course of its business and is not generally known to the public or 15 Google’s competitors. 16 Proposed Order on Motion to GRANTED as to Contains Google’s confidential 17 Compel Entire Document business information that was requested by the State of Texas, 18 State of Arizona, and the FTC in confidence that Google maintains 19 as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not 20 generally known to the public or 21 Google’s competitors. 22 5. Dkt. 293 23 Court’s 24 Document Sought to be Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Ruling on Sealed 25 Motion to Seal 26 Joint Submission in Response to GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Dkt. 276 re Logs Preservation redacted portions at: confidential technical 27 information regarding features of page 3, lines 3, 7-12, operations, including the various 1 16-18, 21-23, 25, types of Google’s data logs and 2 27; information contained in those page 5, lines 9-16, logs, internal data structures, 3 19, 24-25; internal identifiers and their page 6, lines 4-6, 8- proprietary functions, that 4 13, 17-18, 28. Google maintains as confidential 5 in the ordinary course of its business and is not generally 6 known to the public or Google’s competitors. 7 6. Dkt. 296 8 Court’s Ruling 9 Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling 10 Sealed Seal Opposition To Plaintiffs’ Motion To GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect 11 Compel Production of Regulator redacted portions at confidential information regarding Documents Re: Dispute 1.4 Google’s products and systems, 12 Page 2, lines 19-24; including the various types of Page 3, lines 1-2 Google’s internal projects and 13 identifiers as well as Google’s 14 confidential business information that was requested by the State of 15 Texas and State of Arizona in confidence, which Google 16 maintains as confidential in the 17 ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the public 18 or Google’s competitors. 19 20 21 7. Dkt. 308 22 Court’s Ruling 23 Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Sealed Seal 24 September 8, 2021 Order GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect (Dkt. 299) redacted portions at: confidential business information 25 related to Google’s internal 26 page 2, line 20 systems and related personnel which Google maintains as 27 confidential in the ordinary course 1 known to the public or Google’s competitors. 2 8. Dkt. 313 3 Court’s Ruling 4 Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling 5 Sealed Seal Joint Submission in Response to Dkt. | GRANTED to| Narrowly tailored to protect 6 262 re Status of Discovery Disputes | redacted portions at | confidential information regarding Google’s products and systems, 7 3, 4,5, 10, 14 including details related to Google’s internal cookies, 8 identifiers, practices, and logs, 9 including internal operations related to internal identifiers, as 10 well as nonpublic regulatory investigations, which Google 1] maintains as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and 12 is not generally known to the public 13 or Google’s competitors. SO ORDERED. 45 Dated: September 30, 2021 Q 16 = 17 Sussm yar Kul 18 SUSAN VAN KEULEN United States Magistrate Judge 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28