Treasure Island, LLC v. Affiliated FM Insurance Company ( 2021 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 * * * 4 TREASURE ISLAND, LLC, Case No. 2:20-cv-00965-JCM-EJY 5 Plaintiff, 6 v. ORDER 7 AFFILIATED FM INSURANCE COMPANY, 8 Defendant. 9 10 Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal (ECF No. 88), which seeks to seal 11 the portions of its Third Motion to Compel and the entirety of the exhibits thereto (ECF No. 89). No 12 response to this Motion was filed. 13 As the party seeking to seal a judicial record, Plaintiff must meet their burden of overcoming 14 the strong presumption in favor of access and public policies favoring disclosure. Kamakana v. City 15 and Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-79 (9th Cir. 2006) (holding that those who seek to 16 maintain the secrecy of documents attached to dispositive motions must meet the high threshold of 17 showing that “compelling reasons” support secrecy). The mere fact that the production of records 18 may lead to a party’s embarrassment, incrimination, or exposure to further litigation will not alone 19 compel the court to seal its records. Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1136 20 (9th Cir. 2003). 21 Here, Plaintiff’s Motion asks the Court to issue an order sealing the unredacted version of its 22 Third Motion to Compel because it seeks production of documents relevant to Defendant’s responses 23 to Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories “which were identified through the testimony of 24 Defendant[’s] … witness.” ECF No. 88 at 2. Plaintiff further states that pursuant to the parties’ 25 stipulated protective order, the Motion and exhibits “summarize or otherwise disclose Confidential 26 Documents or Attorney’s Eyes Only Material” and, therefore, are properly sealed. Id. 27 A review of ECF No. 89, the redacted Third Motion to Compel, which Plaintiff filed under 1 redacted, and also filed under seal. However, the entirety of these exhibits need not be 2 sealed. Moreover, Plaintiff refiled its unredacted Third Motion to Compel under seal at ECF No. 3 139, as was ordered by the Court; however, the exhibits attached to ECF No. 139 are not identical 4 to the exhibits attached to ECF No. 89. This difference is troubling to the Court. 5 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal (ECF 6 No. 88) is DENIED. 7 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that ECF No. 89, the redacted version of the Third Motion to 8 Compel shall be unsealed. 9 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Exhibits 2 through 6 attached to the Third Motion to 10 Compel (ECF No. 89) shall remain temporarily sealed. 11 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff shall succinctly, but clearly, file a Report with 12 the Court within five (5) court days of the date of this Order, explaining the difference between the 13 exhibits attached to ECF Nos. 89 and 139. This explanation shall identify which exhibits are 14 properly attached to the Third Motion to Compel. 15 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff shall review the exhibits it has filed in support of 16 its Third Motion to Compel and seek to seal only those exhibits or portions of exhibits that should 17 be sealed. For example, interrogatory and document requests are not ordinarily properly sealed, 18 while a response to such requests may be properly sealed in whole or in part. Plaintiff shall then 19 refile the exhibits that are properly attached to the Third Motion to Compel, as identified in the 20 Report, as follows: (i) redacted not under seal with the document titled “Revised Exhibits to Third 21 Motion to Compel – Redacted,” and (ii) unredacted under seal with the document titled “Revised 22 Exhibits to Third Motion to Compel – Under Seal.” Plaintiff shall accomplish these filings within 23 ten (10) court days of the date of this Order. 24 25 26 27 1 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that cover pages to exhibits are not exhibits and shall not be 2 filed as such or under seal. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff shall make all efforts to file future documents 4 properly. 5 6 DATED this 25th day of May, 2021. 7 8 9 ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27