Wells v. Vannoy

Filing 90

RULING granting 72 Sealed Ex Parte Motion to FIle Training Outlines Under Seal. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Riedlinger on 5/1/2012. (JDL) Modified on 5/3/2012 to unseal ruling, per chambers (JDL).

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

TYRONNE WELLS # 397072
CIVIL ACTION
VERSUS
NO. 10-821-JJB-SCR
CINDY VANNOY
RULING ON EX PARTE MOTION TO FILE TRAINING OUTLINES UNDER SEAL
Before the court is the defendant Cindy Vannoy’s Ex Parte
Motion For Leave to File Two Louisiana Department of Public Safety
and Corrections Basic Academy Training Outlines Under Seal of
Court.

Record document number 72.

The motion is not opposed.

Vannoy sought leave of court to file two Louisiana Department
of Public Safety and Corrections Basic Academy Training Outlines,
“restrict[ed]

[from]

public

viewing.”1

In

her

supporting

memorandum however, Vannoy sought to prohibit the plaintiff access
to the training outlines on grounds that to allow the plaintiff to
view this information would threaten the security of the penal
facility.2
A district court has supervisory authority over its records.
SEC v. Van Waeyenberghe, 990 F.2d 845, 848 (5th Cir. 1993).

A

court may deny access to records if the records become a vehicle

1

2

Record document number 72, p. 2.

Record document number 72-1, pp. 1-2 (emphasis added).
Shumpert

for improper purposes.

See Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435

U.S. 589, 597-98, 98 S.Ct. 1306 (1978) (listing various types of
improper purposes that favor denying the public access to judicial
records). Nevertheless, a court must use caution in exercising its
discretion to place records under seal.

Fed. Sav. & Loan Ins.

Corp. v. Blain, 808 F.2d 395, 399 (5th Cir. 1987).
Rather than seeking to restrict public access to the training
outlines to guard against their use for some improper purpose, the
defendant seeks to have the training outlines filed under seal to
deny the plaintiff access to the documents, which documents she
relies on to support her motion for summary judgment.3
the

circumstances

surrounding

filing

excerpts

from

But unlike
the

book

Pimpology under seal,4 these training materials are not available
to the plaintiff from other sources.

Materials explaining how

corrections officers are trained to recognize, assess, and respond
to certain inmate behaviors is not the same as a few pages from a
book which arguably “provides instructions on how to identify women
with low self esteem, to control and to isolate them.”5
Accordingly, the defendant’s Ex Parte Motion For Leave to File

3

See record document number 60, Defense Motion for Summary
Judgment on Behalf of Defendant Cindy Vannoy.
4

See record document number 59, Ex Parte Motion to File Pages
Excerpted from the Book Pimpology Under Seal of Court.
5

Record document number 60-3, Supplemental Affidavit of
defendant Cindy Vannoy, ¶ 4.

Two Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Basic
Academy Training Outlines Under Seal of Court is granted.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, May 1, 2012.

STEPHEN C. RIEDLINGER
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE