Sam v. Renton School District ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 ELLIJAH SAM, CASE NO. 2:21-cv-01363-JHC 8 Plaintiff, ORDER 9 v. 10 RENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT, 11 Defendant. 12 13 14 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Ellijah Sam’s Motion for Leave to File 15 Unredacted Administrative Record Under Seal and Motion to Obtain Record from OAH Directly. Dkt. # 46. The Renton School District (the “District”) joined in Plaintiff’s request to file the 16 Administrative Record from in re Renton School District – Special Education Cause No. 2020-SE- 17 0180 under seal. The Court starts from the position that there is “a strong presumption in favor of 18 access to court records.” Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 19 2003). To overcome this presumption, there must be a “compelling reason” for sealing that is 20 “sufficient to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure.” Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 21 447 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 2006). Compelling reasons exist in this case. Given the volume of the 22 record and the prevalence of sensitive information contained in the record, redacting this confidential 23 24 1 information would be overly burdensome and would render the record difficult to understand—and 2 thus far less valuable—to the public and the Court. 3 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the parties’ request to file the Administrative Record under 4 seal and further ORDERS Defendant Renton School District to file the unredacted Administrative 5 Record under seal within 5 days of entry of this Order. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk to maintain ‘ the administrative record under seal once it is filed. 4 The Court further orders that Plaintiff file his Opening Brief no later than 30 days following the District’s filing of the Administrative Record with the Court. The additional briefing deadlines set forth in the Court’s prior order, Dkt. # 33, remain in place. The Clerk is directed to send uncertified copies of this Order to all counsel of record and to any party appearing pro se at said party’s last known address. Dated this 25th day of July, 2022. 12 13 c / oh _¥. Chur John H. Chun 14 United States District Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24