Eagle Systems & Services, Inc. v. Exelis Systems Corporation

Filing 72

ORDER re: 66 Amended Complaint, filed by Eagle Systems & Services, Inc. ECF No. 66 is to be sealed, Plaintiff may file a new Amended Complaint. by Judge R. Brooke Jackson on 2/5/14. (rbjcd, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 12-cv-00303-RBJ
EAGLE SYSTEMS & SERVICES, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v.
EXELIS SYSTEMS CORPORATION,
Defendant.

ORDER

The Court yesterday was inundated with telephone calls and expressions of anxiety all
arising from what appears to be the plaintiff’s careless filing of an Amended Complaint. Perhaps
unaware that Rule 8 contemplates a short and plain statement of the claims, this is a 16-page
document with 15 attached exhibits comprising 174 pages of additional materials. And, therein
lies the rub. It seems that at least some of the material in the exhibits has caused the defendant
apoplexy, as they fear that it might be making public certain information that the United States
Army (the customer of both parties) wants to keep secret. Both parties now consent that the
Amended Complaint and its exhibits may be sealed and entirely restricted from public view, but
they seem oblivious to the Court’s reason for declining their invitation.
Documents filed with the Court are public documents. If good cause is shown for
restricting public access to a specific document or part of a document, say on grounds that it
contains a true trade secret or it divulges private personal information such as a person’s Social
Security Number, then the Court will go along. Parties should try to avoid filing such
documents, but sometimes it cannot be helped. However, to restrict public access to the whole

Amended Complaint and this mass of exhibits, without giving the Court any good cause to do so,
will not fly.
Because it appears that this all results from a mistaken filing, the Court will ask the
Clerk’s Office to seal ECF No. 66. Essentially, I am permitting the plaintiff to “withdraw” this
pleading and start over. Plaintiff may now file a new Amended Complaint. But it should avoid
including in the text, or attaching as an exhibit, anything that contains confidential information
that is not a critical part of the Amended Complaint. And if it cannot avoid filing such material
entirely, then it should provide very good cause for restricting narrow portions of what it files.
DATED this 5th day of February, 2014.
BY THE COURT:

R. Brooke Jackson
United States District Judge

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