Cramton v. Grabbagreen Franchising LLC et al
Filing
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ORDER - IT IS ORDERED that the Parties' Joint Motion to Seal Exhibit 68 to Defendant's Refiled Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 144 ) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall seal Exhibit 68. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants 39; unopposed Motion to Seal Exhibits 6A and 7A to Defendants' Refiled Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 145 ) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall seal Exhibits 6A and 7A. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants' Motion to Seal or Strike Page 70 of Docket # 128 -1 and Page 47 of Docket # 128 -2 (Doc. 148 ) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall strike Docs. 128 -1 and 128 -2 from the record. (See document for complete details). Signed by Judge Dominic W Lanza on 3/7/19. (SLQ)
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
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Kim Cramton,
Plaintiff,
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ORDER
v.
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No. CV-17-04663-PHX-DWL
Grabbagreen Franchising LLC, et al.,
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Defendants.
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Pending before the Court are the Parties’ Joint Motion to Seal Exhibit 68 to
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Defendants’ Refiled Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 144), Defendants’
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unopposed Motion to Seal Exhibits 6A and 7A to Defendants’ Refiled Motion for Partial
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Summary Judgment (Doc. 145), and Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants’ Motion to Seal or
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Strike Page 70 of Docket #128-1 and Page 47 of Docket #128-2 (Doc. 148). For the
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following reasons, the Court will grant all three motions.
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The public has a general right to inspect judicial records and documents, such that
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a party seeking to seal a judicial record must overcome “a strong presumption in favor of
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access.” Kamakana v. City & Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). To
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do so, the party must “articulate compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings
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that outweigh the general history of access and the public policies favoring
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disclosure . . . .” Id. at 1178-79 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The Court
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must then “conscientiously balance the competing interests of the public and the party who
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seeks to keep certain judicial records secret.” Id. at 1179 (internal quotation marks
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omitted). “After considering these interests, if the court decides to seal certain judicial
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records, it must base its decision on a compelling reason and articulate the factual basis for
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its ruling, without relying on hypothesis or conjecture.” Id. (internal quotation marks
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omitted).
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The “stringent” compelling reasons standard applies to all filed motions and their
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attachments where the motion is “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case.”
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Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016). A
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motion for full or partial summary judgment is clearly such a motion.
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Exhibit 68 to Defendants’ refiled motion for partial summary judgment contains 53
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pages of Kim Cramton’s medical records, providing many details of her medical history
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that exceed the scope of this case. (Doc. 144 at 3.) The Court has balanced the public’s
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interest in accessing judicial documents against Cramton’s interest in privacy and hereby
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determines that compelling reasons exist for sealing this exhibit. The medical records
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contain a great deal of sensitive and private information about her health, beyond just the
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information relevant to the case. The public’s interest in knowing intimate details of
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Cramton’s health beyond the scope of this case is minimal, and Cramton’s interest in
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keeping them private is significant. Cf. Aguilar v. Koehn, 2018 WL 4839021, *2 (D. Nev.
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2018) (“While a plaintiff puts certain aspects of his medical condition at issue when he
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files an action alleging deliberate indifference to a serious medical need under the Eighth
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Amendment, that does not mean that the entirety of his medical records filed in connection
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with a motion (which frequently contain records that pertain to unrelated medical
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information) need be unnecessarily broadcast to the public. In other words, the plaintiff’s
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interest in keeping his sensitive health information confidential outweighs the public’s need
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for direct access to the medical records.”). The Court therefore finds it appropriate to seal
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Exhibit 68.
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Defendants request leave to file Exhibits 6A and 7A to their Refiled Motion for
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Partial Summary Judgment under seal, averring that “the information contained in these
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exhibits is extremely personal and private,” noting in a footnote that “Defendants cannot
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specifically state what the personal and private information is because to do so would
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obviate the purpose of this Motion.” (Doc. 145 at 2, 2 n.1.) The Court has reviewed
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Exhibits 6A and 7A, which address the sensitive medical condition of one of the parties,
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and concludes, for the same reasons as noted above with respect to Exhibit 68, that they
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may be filed under seal.
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Finally, Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants filed a Motion to Seal or Strike Page 70 of
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Docket #128-1 and Page 47 of Docket #128-2, in which they state that they “inadvertently
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attached two pages of . . . testimony designated ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ by Defendants as
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exhibits to their previously filed Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 128).” (Doc. 148
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at 2.) As noted by Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants, pursuant to the Court’s Protective Order,
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materials designated “CONFIDENTIAL” by the parties may be filed with the Court only
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under seal. (Doc. 57 at ¶ 8.) Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants aver that the “disclosure was
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erroneous and the confidential content of that deposition testimony was not discussed in
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Plaintiff’s Motion,” and moreover, “[t]he confidential information has been omitted from
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Plaintiff’s recently re-filed Motion for Summary Judgment.” (Doc. 148 at 2.) Because the
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filing was prohibited by this Court’s Protective Order, a motion to strike is appropriate.
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LRCiv 7.2(m)(1). The Court therefore orders that Docs. 128-1 and 128-2 shall be stricken
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from the record.
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Accordingly,
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IT IS ORDERED that the Parties’ Joint Motion to Seal Exhibit 68 to Defendant’s
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Refiled Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 144) is GRANTED. The Clerk of
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Court shall seal Exhibit 68.
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants’ unopposed Motion to Seal
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Exhibits 6A and 7A to Defendants’ Refiled Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc.
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145) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall seal Exhibits 6A and 7A.
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff/Counter-Defendants’ Motion to Seal
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or Strike Page 70 of Docket #128-1 and Page 47 of Docket #128-2 (Doc. 148) is
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GRANTED. The Clerk of Court shall strike Docs. 128-1 and 128-2 from the record.
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Dated this 7th day of March, 2019.
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