Skillz Platform Inc. v. AviaGames Inc. ( 2023 )

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION 6 7 SKILLZ PLATFORM INC., Case No. 21-cv-02436-BLF 8 Plaintiff, ORDER RE: ADMINISTRATIVE 9 v. MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER ANOTHER PARTY'S MATERIAL 10 AVIAGAMES INC., SHOULD BE SEALED 11 Defendant. [Re: ECF No. 274, 277] 12 13 Before the Court is Defendant AviaGames Inc.’s Administrative Motion to Consider 14 Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed in connection with AviaGames’ Response to 15 Plaintiff Skillz Platform Inc.’s Notice to Correct the Record. ECF Nos. 274, 277. The Court has 16 considered the motion, and its ruling is laid out below. 17 I. LEGAL STANDARD 18 “Historically, courts have recognized a ‘general right to inspect and copy public records 19 and documents, including judicial records and documents.’” Kamakana v. City and Cnty. of 20 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 21 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). Consequently, access to motions and their attachments that are 22 “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case” may be sealed only upon a showing of 23 “compelling reasons” for sealing. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 24 1101–02 (9th Cir. 2016). Filings that are only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed 25 upon a lesser showing of “good cause.” Id. at 1097. 26 In addition, in this district, all parties requesting sealing must comply with Civil Local 27 Rule 79-5. That rule requires, inter alia, the moving party to provide “the reasons for keeping a 1 warrant sealing; (ii) the injury that will result if sealing is denied; and (iii) why a less restrictive 2 alternative to sealing is not sufficient.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(1). Further, Civil Local Rule 79-5 3 requires the moving party to provide “evidentiary support from declarations where necessary.” 4 Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(2). And the proposed order must be “narrowly tailored to seal only the sealable 5 material.” Civ. L.R. 79-5(c)(3). 6 Further, when a party seeks to seal a document because it has been designated as 7 confidential by another party, the filing party must file an Administrative Motion to Consider 8 Whether Another Party’s Material Should be Sealed. Civ. L.R. 79-5(f). In that case, the filing 9 party need not satisfy the requirements of subsection (c)(1). Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(1). Instead, the 10 party who designated the material as confidential must, within seven days of the motion’s filing, 11 file a statement and/or declaration that meets the requirements of subsection (c)(1). Civ. L.R. 79- 12 5(f)(3). A designating party’s failure to file a statement or declaration may result in the unsealing 13 of the provisionally sealed document without further notice to the designating party. Id. Any 14 party can file a response to that declaration within four days. Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(4). 15 II. DISCUSSION 16 The good cause standard applies here because the sealing motion relates to a notice to 17 correct the record, which is only tangentially related to the merits of the case. Cf. Ctr. for Auto 18 Safety, 809 F.3d at 1097. 19 On September 22, 2023, AviaGames filed an administrative motion to consider whether 20 another party’s material should be sealed which identified its response to Skillz’s notice, ECF No. 21 249, as containing information that Skillz has designated as highly confidential. ECF No. 274. As 22 of the date of this Order, Skillz has not filed a statement and/or declaration in support of this 23 motion under Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(3). See, e.g., Plexxikon Inc. v. Novartis Pharms. Corp., No. 17- 24 CV-04405-HSG, 2022 WL 1131725, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2022) (denying motions to seal 25 because the designating party failed to comply with Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(3)). 26 The Court rules as follows: 27 ECF No. Document Portions to Seal Ruling 1 to Skillz’s Notice to Portions with Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(3). Correct the Record re: 2 Dkt. 249 3 This denial based on failure to comply with Civ. L.R. 79-5(f)(3) is WITHOUT PREJUDICE to 4 Skillz filing a statement and/or declaration in support of sealing this document within 10 days of 5 the date of this Order. 6 Il. ORDER 7 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant AviaGames Inc.’s 8 Administrative Motion to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed Re: 9 Response to Notice to Correct the Record (ECF Nos. 274, 277) is DENIED WITHOUT 10 PREJUDICE. Skillz may file a statement in support of sealing the denied documents within 10 11 days of this Order. 12 s 13 Dated: October 3, 2023 14 BETH LABSON FREEMAN 15 United States District Judge 16 = 17 Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28