Wendy D Sholes v. Unknown Bucey, et al.

1 WO 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Wendy D Sholes, No. CV-15-00232-PHX-DJH 10 Plaintiff, ORDER v. Unknown Bucey, et al., 13 Defendants.

15 At issue is pro se Plaintiff Wendy D. Sholes’ (“Plaintiff”) Motion to Seal Case.

16 (Doc. 17). Plaintiff’s entire Motion is the following paragraph: 17 Your Honor I am requesting that this civil case that I filed years ago to be completely sealed please, kept away from the public information from the 18 computers website to research civil federal cases please. This case is very personal to me and I don’t want this information to be public. Thank you.

19 Wendy Sholes. (Id.) The Court must deny Plaintiff’s request at this time because it does not meet the compelling reasons standard as required by the Ninth Circuit. Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006). The citizenry’s right to inspect public records creates a “strong presumption” that documents filed with federal courts shall be open to the public. Kamakana, 447 F.3d 1172 at 1178. A party seeking to seal a judicial record must generally produce “compelling reasons” that the record ought to be kept secret. Id. at 1178–79. To satisfy the compelling reasons standard, a party must adduce specific facts demonstrating that the party’s interest in privacy outweighs the strong public policy favoring disclosure. Id. Ordinarily, the compelling reasons || standard is satisfied when a party establishes that a document has been submitted for an || improper purpose, such as harassment. /d. “The mere fact that the production of records || may lead to a litigant’s embarrassment, incrimination, or exposure to further litigation will not, without more, compel the court to seal its records.” Jd.

5 Here, Plaintiff has not set forth compelling reasons to justify the sealing of the || entire case. In fact, Plaintiff has not advanced any reasons why the case should be sealed.

Barebone pleas for sealing, standing alone, are not enough to be considered compelling || reasons. Therefore, the Court will deny Plaintiff's request.

9 Accordingly, 10 IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Seal Case (Doc. 17) is denied.

11 Dated this 16th day of October, 2025.

13 Gum □□ 14 norable'Diang4. Humetewa 15 United States District Fudge -2-