Parrish et al v. National Football League Players Incorporated

Filing 450

MOTION to Seal Document DEFENDANTS MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL filed by National Football League Players Incorporated, National Football League Players Association. (Padnos, Todd) (Filed on 10/8/2008)

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One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111

Todd Padnos (Bar No. 208202) [e-mail] DEWEY & LEBOEUF LLP One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Jeffrey L. Kessler (pro hac vice) [e-mail] David G. Feher (pro hac vice) [e-mail] David Greenspan (pro hac vice) [e-mail] DEWEY & LEBOEUF LLP 1301 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Kenneth L. Steinthal (pro hac vice) [e-mail] WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP 201 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Bruce S. Meyer (pro hac vice) [e-mail] WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP 767 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10153 Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Attorneys for Defendants National Football League Players Association and National Football League Players Incorporated d/b/a Players Inc UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION BERNARD PAUL PARRISH, HERBERT ANTHONY ADDERLEY, WALTER ROBERTS III, Plaintiffs, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION and NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS INCORPORATED d/b/a/ PLAYERS INC, Defendants. Case No. C 07 0943 WHA DEFENDANTS' MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL

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Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Defs.' Misc. Admin. Mot. To File Under Seal

Civ. Action No. C07 0943 WHA

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One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111

Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Civil Local Rules 79-5(d) and 7-11, Defendants National Football League Players Association ("NFLPA") and National Football League Players Incorporated ("Players Inc") hereby request to file under seal Exhibit 1 and 2 to the Declaration of Jason Clark in Support of Defendants' Motion in Limine No. 4, and Exhibits 1, 3, and 4 to the Declaration of Jason Clark in Support of Defendants' Motion in Limine No. 5. These Exhibits include documents designated by Defendants as "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential -- Attorneys' Eyes Only." Defendants submit that this Motion is narrowly tailored to respect the parties' confidentiality designations under the Protective Order in this action. Pursuant to Civil L.R. 712, counsel for Defendants met and conferred with counsel for Plaintiffs regarding Defendants' Miscellaneous Administrative Motion to File Under Seal. Counsel for Plaintiffs did not agree to Defendants' request to join in this Motion. See Declaration of Roy Taub ¶ 2. MEMORANDUM Pursuant to Civil L.R. 79-5, Defendants proffer the following showing of good cause in support of their request to file under seal. Exhibits 1 and 2 to the Declaration of Jason Clark in Support of Defendants' Motion in Limine No. 4 and Exhibits 1, 3, and 4 to the Declaration of Jason Clark in Support of Defendants' Motion in Limine No. 5 are reports prepared by experts retained by the parties in this matter, and contain highly-confidential information regarding Defendants' financial accounts and licensing business, including, among other things, detailed listings of revenues received by Defendants from dozens of individual licensees over multiple years, detailed listings of licensing revenues distributed to hundreds of individual active players over multiple years, detailed financial summaries of Defendants' licensing business, and detailed financial summaries of revenues distributed to active and retired players. These are non-public documents that contain confidential information and trade secrets, public disclosure of which would seriously harm Defendants and their non-party licensees. See Declaration of Gene Upshaw ¶ 2-4 (Rec. Doc. 187) (Nov. 21, 2007) ("Upshaw Decl."). These documents are confidential for the same reasons that the Court previously found
Defs.' Misc. Admin. Mot. To File Under Seal Civ. Action No. C07 0943 WHA

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Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

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One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111

good cause to file other documents relating to Defendants' licensing business under seal. See Order Sealing Confidential Documents (Rec. Doc. 144) (Oct. 3, 2007); Order Granting Mot. to File Docs. Under Seal (Rec. Doc. 159) (Oct. 15, 2007); Order Granting Defs.' Misc. Admin. Mot. to File Under Seal Certain Confidential Information Filed by Pls. (Rec. Doc. 188) (Nov. 26, 2007); Order Granting Defs.' Misc. Admin. Mot. to File Under Seal, (Rec. Doc. 226) (Mar. 24, 2008); Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Mots. to Seal (Rec. Doc. 255) (April 7, 2008); Upshaw Decl. ¶¶ 7-8. They should be filed under seal because they contain such commercially and competitively sensitive business information related to Defendants' and third-party licensees' licensing business. Public disclosure of these agreements would reveal to Defendants' competitors, counter-contracting parties, and potential counter-contracting parties detailed financial information relating to the operations of Defendants' licensing businesses and contractual arrangements with third parties. Such information could cause these entities to change their business behavior to Defendants' commercial disadvantage. See Upshaw Decl. ¶¶ 7-8. Accordingly, there is good cause to file these documents under seal. 1 CONCLUSION For the reasons stated above, Defendants respectfully request that this Court grant this Miscellaneous Administrative Motion to File under Seal. Date: October 8, 2008 DEWEY & LEBOEUF LLP BY: _ /S/ David G. Feher_ _______ David G. Feher Attorneys for Defendants
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See Cal. Serv. Employees Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Advance Bldg. Maint., No. C063078 CW (BZ), 2007 WL 2669823, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2007) (protecting information relating to defendant's accounts receivables and outgoing payments as trade secrets that could provide its competitors advantages in the marketplace); Navarro v. Eskanos & Adler, et al., No. C-06-02231 WHA (EDL), 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24864, at *16-17 (N.D. Cal. March 22, 2007) (protecting information that reveals the ways in which a party runs its business and thereby maintains its competitive advantage); Reilly v. MediaNews Group Inc., No. C 06-04332 SI, 2007 WL 196682, at *4, 14 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 24, 2007) (filing under seal information regarding financial information, including past and present revenues because it might affect future business dealings). -2Defs.' Misc. Admin. Mot. To File Under Seal Civ. Action No. C07 0943 WHA