Lehman Brothers Holdings Incorporated v. Lending Company Incorporated
Filing
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ORDER granting 30 Motion to File Certain Documents Under Seal and that the Clerk of the Court shall maintain under seal Exhibits 2, 3, and 4 to the Affidavit of James A. Bloom and Exhibit 4 to the Affidavit of David Johnson (Lodged Doc. 31 ). FU RTHER ORDERED 38 Motion to File Certain Documents Under Seal is denied without prejudice to a properly supported motion to seal being filed in accordance with LRCiv 5.6(d) no later than 6/10/13. The Clerk of the Court shall maintain lodged document 39 under seal until further order of the Court. Signed by Senior Judge Paul G Rosenblatt on 5/8/13.(MAP)
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
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Lehman Brothers Holdings. Inc.,
Plaintiff,
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vs.
The Lending Company,
Defendant.
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No. CV-12–02027-PHX-PGR
ORDER
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Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to File Certain Documents
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Under Seal (Doc. 30). The documents at issue are Exhibits 2, 3, and 4 to the
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Affidavit of James A. Bloom and Exhibit 4 to the Affidavit of David Johnson, which
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were submitted in support of Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The
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documents, which the plaintiff designated as “confidential,” were produced to the
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defendant by the plaintiff under the terms of a confidentiality agreement which
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prohibits the public filing of documents designated as confidential.
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The Ninth Circuit has made it clear that the party seeking to seal an
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attachment to a summary judgment motion bears the burden of overcoming the
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strong presumption in favor of public access to judicial records by articulating
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“compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings ... that outweigh the
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general history of access and the public policies favoring disclosure.” Kamakana v.
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City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-79 (9th Cir.2006). Although the
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defendant does not refer to the proper legal test for sealing summary judgment
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attachments1, the Court finds that the motion should nevertheless be granted due
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to the nature of the documents at issue. As described by the defendant, the
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documents are properly subject to being sealed because they include various
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confidential information about non-party borrowers, such as loan numbers, names,
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addresses, and phone numbers, and family health and financial circumstances,
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including social security numbers, tax returns, bank account numbers, pay stubs,
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and household liabilities.
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outweighs public policies favoring disclosure.
The personal nature of such non-party information
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Also pending before the Court is Defendant’s [Second] Motion to File Certain
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Documents Under Seal (Doc. 38), wherein the defendant seeks to file under seal
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Exhibit A to its Reply in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment. The exhibit
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is an Assignment and Assumption Agreement, which the defendant requests be
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sealed solely because it was designated by the plaintiff as confidential under the
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terms of the parties’ confidentiality agreement. The Court finds that this motion to
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seal should be denied because the defendant has failed to advance any reason for
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sealing that satisfies the “compelling reason” standard. The Court will, however,
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keep the document under seal for one month to permit the parties to comply with the
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requirements of LRCiv 5.6(d). If no properly supported motion to seal is timely filed,
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the Court may enter an order making the document part of the public record.
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The defendant also has not complied with LRCiv 5.6(d), which sets
forth the requirements for filing a document designated as confidential by another
party.
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Therefore,
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IT IS ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to File Certain Documents Under
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Seal (Doc. 30) is granted and that the Clerk of the Court shall maintain under seal
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Exhibits 2, 3, and 4 to the Affidavit of James A. Bloom and Exhibit 4 to the Affidavit
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of David Johnson (Lodged Doc. 31).
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s [Second] Motion to File Certain
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Documents Under Seal (Doc. 38) is denied without prejudice to a properly supported
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motion to seal being filed in accordance with LRCiv 5.6(d) no later than June 10,
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2013. The Clerk of the Court shall maintain lodged document 39 under seal until
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further order of the Court.
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DATED this 8th day of May, 2013.
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