Suzette Tippitt v. Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC, et al

Filing 42

ORDER by Judge Richard Seeborg denying 32 without prejudice Administrative Motion to File Under Seal (cl, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 8/20/2015)

1
2
3
4

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

5

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

6
7

SUZETTE TIPPITT,

Case No. 14-cv-03893-RS

Plaintiff,
8
v.
9
TESORO REFINING & MARKETING
COMPANY LLC, et al.,

11
United States District Court
Northern District of California

10

ORDER DENYING WITHOUT
PREJUDICE ADMINISTRATIVE
MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL

Defendants.

12
13

The parties in this case have filed an administrative motion to file certain documents under

14

seal in connection with their summary judgment briefing. As the designating party of the

15

putatively confidential information, Tesoro bears the burden of pointing to compelling reasons

16

justifying sealing and narrowly tailoring its request to target only sealable information. Kamakana

17

v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006); Civil Local Rule 79-5(b).

18

Its submission does not satisfy the second of these requirements. While the need to protect the

19

privacy of a defendant’s non-party employee may justify sealing, Tesoro’s request does not merely

20

seek to redact sensitive information pertaining to the individual at issue here. Instead, Tesoro

21

proposes to excise roughly half of the exhibits submitted in support of plaintiff’s opposition from

22

the public record. This overbroad request is denied.

23

Because certain information targeted by Tesoro’s request is sealable, the administrative

24

motion is denied without prejudice. Tesoro is directed to file a renewed sealing request,

25

minimizing proposed redactions, no later than one week from the date of this order. The renewed

26

request shall include a redacted version of each of the documents at issue. This order does not

27

address the merits of Tesoro’s motion for summary judgment.

28

1

IT IS SO ORDERED.

2
3
4
5

Dated: August 20, 2015
______________________________________
RICHARD SEEBORG
United States District Judge

6
7
8
9
10

United States District Court
Northern District of California

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
ORDER DENYING SEALING MOTION
CASE NO. 14-cv-03893-RS

28
2