Richard Stafford v. Dollar Tree Stores Inc et al

Filing 121

ORDER signed by Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on 9/18/2015 ORDERING 117 Request to Seal Document(s) filed by Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. is DENIED. (Reader, L)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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RICHARD STAFFORD,

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Plaintiff,

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No. 2:13-cv-01187-KJM-CKD

v.

ORDER

DOLLAR TREE STORES, INC., and
DOES 1 through 50 Inclusive,
Defendant.

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Defendant Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. requests the sealing of several documents to be

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submitted in support of plaintiff Richard Stafford’s motion for partial summary judgment.

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Stafford submitted a notice of non-opposition. As explained below, the request is DENIED.

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I.

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BACKGROUND
Stafford is a former Dollar Tree employee. He alleges several claims under the

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California Labor Code and Industrial Wage Commission Wage Orders. See generally Third Am.

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Compl., ECF No. 102. In short, he alleges Dollar Tree did not provide him the meal and rest

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breaks required by California law; did not pay correct minimum, regular and overtime wages; did

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not keep or provide him with accurate records and wage statements; and did not pay him wages

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when they were due. See id. ¶¶ 14–27.

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Before the court is Dollar Tree’s request to seal the following documents:

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“(1) summary reports of Plaintiff Richard Stafford’s bonus payments and overtime worked,

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(2) scheduling and clock punch data for certain Dollar Tree stores, and (3) data from a

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spreadsheet identifying the date and time that Plaintiff clocked in and out of work.” Req. Seal,

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ECF No. 117. Each was produced during discovery as confidential under a discovery phase

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protective order entered in this case. See Protective Order, ECF No. 67. Stafford’s expert

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witness relied on them in preparing his expert report, and the parties have informed the court

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Stafford intends to file the report and supporting materials publicly alongside a motion for partial

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summary judgment. Dollar Tree explains the materials “contain confidential information and

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trade secrets related to Dollar Tree’s operations and financial data, and contain personnel

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information protected by the right to privacy contained in the California Constitution.” Id.

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II.

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LEGAL STANDARD
Local Rule 141(a) provides that “[d]ocuments may be sealed only by written order

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of the Court, upon the showing required by applicable law.” The request to seal “shall set forth

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the statutory or other authority for sealing, the requested duration, the identity, by name or

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category, of persons to be permitted access to the documents, and all other relevant information.”

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Id. 141(b). “[A] party may submit an opposition . . . within three days of the date of service . . . .”

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Id. 141(c). “The opposition shall not be filed . . . .” Id.

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The common-law “right to inspect and copy judicial records is not absolute.”

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Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978). A litigant may request court records

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be sealed or redacted. See id. (listing traditional examples). In the Ninth Circuit, courts faced

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with requests to seal or redact begin “with a strong presumption favor of access to court records.”

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Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003). In the context of a

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dispositive motion, such as one for partial summary judgment, the party seeking to seal or redact

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a document “bears the burden of overcoming this strong presumption” by “articulat[ing]

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compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings that outweigh the general history of

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access and the public policies favoring disclosure, such as the public interest in understanding the

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judicial process.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006)
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(quoting Foltz, 331 F.3d at 1135 and Hagestad v. Tragesser, 49 F.3d 1430, 1434 (9th Cir. 1995))

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(quotation marks and alterations omitted). Commonly cited “compelling reasons” include the

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need to avoid “private spite,” “public scandal,” and to prevent a court’s records from becoming

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“reservoirs of libelous statement for press consumption,” or “sources of business information that

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might harm a litigant’s competitive standing.” Nixon, 435 U.S. at 589 (citations and internal

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quotation marks omitted). Hypothetical or conjectural harm are not compelling reasons.

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Hagestad, 49 F.3d at 1434. A document may be the subject of a previously entered protective

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order and yet be disclosed when attached to a dispositive motion. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at

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1183.

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III.

DISCUSSION
A.

Business Information

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Dollar Tree requests its overtime reports for Stafford, staffing data, and punch

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report data be sealed as confidential business information. Not all business information is so

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confidential or sensitive that it must be sealed. See, e.g., Open Text S.A. v. Box, Inc., No. 13-

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04910, 2014 WL 7368594, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 26, 2014) (declining to seal, for example,

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information about a litigant’s “product design and source code and highly confidential and

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competitively sensitive business information including usage data,” even though the litigant

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argued the information was “likely to cause harm to [its] business if known by competitors”);

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GoDaddy.com LLC v. RPost Commc’ns Ltd., No. 14-00126, 2014 WL 2117349, at *1 (D. Ariz.

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May 21, 2014) (“[A] party’s allegations that material is ‘confidential’ or ‘business information’

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are insufficient to justify sealing court records containing such material unless the party proves

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the existence of compelling reasons such as those set forth in Kamakana. . . . “[O]nly in

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extremely limited circumstances will confidential information actually merit the sealing of court

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records.” (citations omitted)). Trade secrets, specific pricing terms, royalty rates, and similar data

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are more commonly sealed. See, e.g., In re Elec. Arts, Inc., 298 F. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir.

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2008) (unpublished); see also Herron v. Best Buy Stores, LP, No. 12-02103, 2015 WL 5330271,

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at *2 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 10, 2015) (sealing a defendant’s internal valuations of products and brands,

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developed after expenditure of “great amounts of time and money,” which were unavailable to

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competitors and at the heart of the defendant’s business).

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Here, Dollar Tree explains that disclosure of its compensation structure (for

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example, the amount of bonuses paid to employees) and its staffing methods would be valuable to

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its competitors. This explanation is not “compelling.” The court appreciates Dollar Tree’s

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fiercely competitive habitat, the discount retail environment, but Dollar Tree has described no

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unique or innovative theory of employee incentives or staffing, and the court can surmise none

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from the documents provided. Moreover, the central disputes revolve around these data: whether

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employees were paid lawful wages; whether employees worked without breaks; and whether they

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received payment on time. The public interest in understanding this litigation outweighs the need

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to protect the business records Dollar Tree identifies from public scrutiny.

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B.

Personnel Information
Dollar Tree also explains that the documents it requests to seal include the names,

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schedules, wages, and other information about its employees. The California Constitution

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protects a person’s right to privacy, and this protection extends to personnel files. San Diego

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Trolley, Inc. v. Super. Ct., 87 Cal. App. 4th 1083, 1097 (2001). Federal courts have also

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recognized that employees’ personnel records may in some cases be sealed, even when attached

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to a dispositive motion. See, e.g., TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. v. Avago Technologies Ltd., No.

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09-1531, 2011 WL 5190264, at *3 (D. Ariz. Nov. 1, 2011). This is not always the case. See, e.g.,

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Stout v. Hartford Life & Acc. Ins. Co., No. 11-6186, 2012 WL 6025770, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 4,

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2012) (“Courts are split on whether employees’ privacy interests justify shielding their

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performance evaluations from public view.”).

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Here, Dollar Tree argues only that the documents contain personnel information.

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The materials submitted include the names, titles, and historical work schedules of several

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employees. Only Stafford’s pay rates are identifiable. No performance evaluations, medical

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records, phone numbers, addresses, or similarly sensitive information appear in the documents in

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question. As described above, when and how long Dollar Tree’s employees worked are central

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disputes in this litigation. The need to protect its employees’ privacy does not outweigh the need

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for disclosure in this case.

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IV.

CONCLUSION

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The request is DENIED.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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DATED: September 18, 2015.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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