General Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. The Wells Fargo Mortgage Backed Securities 2006-AR18 Trust et al

Filing 421

ORDER Regarding Administrative Motions to Seal, Dkt. Nos. 400 and 405 . Signed by Judge Lucy H. Koh on 5/24/2011. (lhklc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 5/24/2011)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10
United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

8

SAN JOSE DIVISION

11

)
)
)
)
)
)

12
13

IN RE WELLS FARGO MORTGAGEBACKED CERTIFICATES LITIGATION

14
15

Case No.: 09-CV-01376-LHK
ORDER REGARDING REQUESTS TO
SEAL

On May 5, 2011, defendants in this case filed two Administrative Motions to File Under

16

Seal (Dkt. Nos. 400 and 405). In the first-filed motion, Defendant Wells Fargo requests sealing of

17

certain documents that were designated Confidential or Highly Confidential by other defendants

18

(Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and UBS Securities, LLC). In the second-filed motion, all

19

defendants in this action request sealing of information including some information designated

20

Confidential or Highly Confidential by plaintiffs. As the Court has previously held, pursuant to

21

Local Rule 79-5(d), when a party moves to seal documents designated as sealable by another party,

22

the designating party must file a supporting declaration within 7 days, or the sealing motion will be

23

denied. No supporting declaration was filed by any party in response to either of the sealing

24

motions referenced above.1

25
26
1

27
28

However, defendants did submit supporting declarations regarding sealing of documents
designated by defendants as Confidential or Highly Confidential and referenced in Dkt. No. 405.
Accordingly, the Court will grant the request to seal as to defendants’ designated information for
which defendants request sealing in Dkt. No. 405.
1
Case No.: 09-CV-01376-LHK
ORDER REGARDING REQUESTS TO SEAL

1

If any party objects to the public filing of the documents identified in the above-referenced

2

Administrative Motions to Seal, they shall file a declaration stating the basis for asserting

3

confidentiality of each exhibit defendants seek to seal. This declaration must be filed by May 31,

4

2011. If no declaration is received, the Court will deny the sealing request as to the relevant

5

documents.

6

The parties are cautioned that designation of documents as Confidential or Highly

7

Confidential under the Protective Order does not make the documents sealable. To be sealed,

8

information must be “privileged or protectable as a trade secret or otherwise entitled to protection

9

under the law,” and the party designating the information as confidential must establish that the

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

10
11

information is sealable.
This is the second time that the Court has had to deny a request for sealing due to the failure

12

of a party to submit a supporting declaration. Perhaps the parties designating the information as

13

confidential have withdrawn the designation, and their failure to submit supporting declarations

14

was intentional. If so, the designating parties should file a statement indicating this so that the

15

parties requesting sealing can amend their sealing requests appropriately. If not, however, the

16

Court notes that failure to submit supporting declarations impedes the Court’s consideration of

17

sealing requests and burdens the Court.

18

In the future, if any party fails to timely submit a supporting declaration in response to

19

another party’s administrative motion to seal information, the Court will simply deny sealing of

20

information, and it will be made part of the public record per Civil Local Rule 79-5(d).

21

In addition, the Court would appreciate if both parties would indicate proposed redactions

22

with highlighting (so that proposed redacted text is visible) rather than with marks completely

23

obscuring the text. This will aid the Court’s review of proposed redactions.

24

IT IS SO ORDERED.

25

Dated: May 24, 2011

_________________________________
LUCY H. KOH
United States District Judge

26
27
28
2
Case No.: 09-CV-01376-LHK
ORDER REGARDING REQUESTS TO SEAL