EpicentRx, Inc. v. Carter ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 EPICENTRX, INC., Case No.: 20cv1058-TWR-LL 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 13 v. SEAL 14 COREY A. CARTER, M.D., [ECF No. 152] 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 Currently before the Court is Plaintiff’s1 Motion to Seal “Highly Confidential 19 Exhibit A to Andrew Breimbau Declaration.” ECF No. 152. The declaration and exhibit 20 were filed in support of Plaintiff’s opposition to a motion to compel. Id. In support, Plaintiff 21 states “the Exhibit A has been marked ‘Highly Confidential’ under the Protective Order 22 in this action because it includes information that is not available to the public and reflects 23 Plaintiff’s technology, operations, specifications, products, know-how, inventions, 24 prototypes, how Plaintiff conducts its business, and other information related to 25 confidential disclosure agreements or non-disclosure agreements.” Id. at 2. 26 27 1 On December 20, 2021, Defendant’s counter claims were dismissed, with partial leave to 28 l Generally, documents filed in civil cases are presumed to be available to the public. 2 || EEOC v. Erection Co., 900 F.2d 168, 170 (9th Cir. 1990). A moving party must show 3 || compelling reasons to justify an order sealing documents. Kamakana v. City & County of 4 || Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-79 (9th Cir. 2006). What constitutes a compelling reason 5 |lis left to the discretion of the trial court. Nixon v. Warner Commce’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 6 ||599 (1978). Examples include when a court record might be used as “sources of business 7 ||information that might harm a litigant’s competitive standing.” Id. at 598—99. This includes 8 ‘trade secrets or other confidential research, development, or commercial information.” 9 || Phillips v. GMC, 307 F.3d 1206, 1211 (9th Cir. 2002). 10 Upon review, the single-page exhibit appears to contain confidential research and 11 ||development information, that if disclosed, might harm Plaintiff's competitive standing. 12 || Accordingly, the Motion to Seal [ECF No. 152] 1s GRANTED. The document lodged at 13 || ECF No. 153 will be filed under seal. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: December 22, 2021 MO 6 Nn TZ) 17 Honorable Linda Lopez 8 United States Magistrate Judge 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28