Love v. Eaton Corporation Disabiltiy Plan for U.S. Employees

Filing 23

ORDER granting 21 Joint Motion to File Administrative Record Under Seal - Signed by District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan on 5/23/2017. (Baker, C.)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
WESTERN DIVISION
DIANE LOVE,
Plaintiff,
vs.
EATON CORPORATION DISABILITY
PLAN FOR U.S. EMPLOYEES,
Defendant.

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Case No. 5:16-CV-00860
JUDGE LOUISE WOOD FLANAGAN

ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION
TO FILE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD
UNDER SEAL

This matter is before the Court on the parties’ Joint Motion to File Administrative Record
Under Seal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 and Local Civil Rule 79.2 of this
Court. The Court has considered the motion and makes the following findings:
1.

In this case, Plaintiff seeks judicial review of the denial of both short-term and

long-term disability benefits by Defendant under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
based upon the Administrative Record before the Plan.
2.

The Administrative Record1 is replete with personal financial and medical

information of Plaintiff, including Plaintiff’s medical history, medications and other treatments
that were prescribed for Plaintiff by medical professionals, social security number, date of birth,
home address and telephone number, and other information that has the potential to cause
embarrassment or of being exploited unlawfully.
3.

Given the confidential nature of the information in the Administrative Record, the

public’s right to access judicial information is not outweighed by Plaintiff’s right to privacy.

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The Administrative Record consists of two parts: ADMINREC000001 through ADMINREC000599 (Plaintiff’s
short-term disability claim) and ADMINREC000001 through ADMINREC001810 (Plaintiff’s long-term disability
claim). The digital size of the Administrative Record is 157.1 Megabytes (MB).

4.

Any alternatives to sealing, including redaction, are inadequate and impractical

given the frequency of confidential information in the Administrative Record. Redaction or
other alternatives would render the record unusable for purposes of judicial review.
5.

All parties consented to the motion.

6.

The motion is consistent with and in compliance to the provisions of the E-

Government Act of 2002.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the parties’ motion is GRANTED, and the
Administrative Record shall be sealed by the Clerk of Court upon filing subject to further order
by this Court.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Administrative Record shall be filed on the docket
of this case, and where the CM/ECF maximum size per filing in 50 MB, and the parties indicate
the Administrative Record is 151.1 MB, it would appear as four separate documents.
This the 23rd day of May, 2017.

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The Honorable Louise Wood Flanagan
United States District Judge