Calhoun v. Google LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

PATRICK CALHOUN, et al., Case No. 20-cv-05146-LHK (SVK) Plaintiffs,

ORDER ON ADMINISTRATIVE v. MOTIONS TO FILE UNDER SEAL SEAL

GOOGLE LLC,

Re: Dkt. Nos. 359, 360, 361 Defendant.

Before the Court are several administrative motions to file under seal materials associated with discovery disputes in this case. Dkt. 359, 360, 361; see also Dkt. 365. Courts recognize a “general right to inspect and copy public records and documents, including judicial records and documents.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. Of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 16 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon v. Warner Communs., Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 & n.7 (1978)). A request to seal court records therefore starts with a “strong presumption in favor of access.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178 (quoting Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 19 1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003)). The standard for overcoming the presumption of public access to court records depends on the purpose for which the records are filed with the court. A party seeking to seal court records relating to motions that are “more than tangentially related to the underlying cause of action” must demonstrate “compelling reasons” that support secrecy. Ctr. For Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., 809 F.3d 1092, 1099 (9th Cir. 2016). For records attached to motions that re “not related, or only tangentially related, to the merits of the case,” the lower “good cause” standard of Rule 26(c) applies. Id.; see also Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179. A party moving to seal court records must also comply with the procedures established by Civil Local Rule 79-5.

Here, the “good cause” standard applies because the information the parties seek to seal was submitted to the Court in connection with discovery-related motions, rather than a motion that concerns the merits of the case. The Court may reach different conclusions regarding sealing these documents under different standards or in a different context. Having considered the motions to seal, supporting declarations, and the pleadings on file, and good cause appearing, the Court ORDERS as follows:

1. Dkt. 359

Court’s Ruling

Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Sealed Seal

October 20, 2021 Special Master’s GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Report redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary information regarding sensitive Page 5, line 10; features of Google’s internal systems and operations, including Exhibit A, Page 1, details about internal identifiers, Column “Special projects, and data structures, that Master’s Order”, lines Google maintains as confidential in 11-17; 19 the ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the Exhibit A, Page 3, public or Google’s competitors. Column “Special

Master’s Order”, lines

15-16, 20, 38-41, 43

2. Dkt. 360

Court’s Ruling

Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Sealed Seal

Plaintiffs’ Objections to (and GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Motion to Modify) the Special redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary Master’s Sealed information regarding Google’s Recommendations and Order Page 2, Lines 8-11, internal systems and operations, dated October 20, 2021 14-15, 27-28 including details related to the Page 3, Lines 8, 11, various types of identifiers, 24, 26-27 cookies, and projects Google uses Page 4, Lines 1-5, 8- internally and their proprietary 9, 17, 20, 25-27 functions.

Page 5, Lines 11, 14

Ex. A to Plaintiffs’ Objections, GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect the Declaration of Zubair redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary Shafiq dated October 27, 2021 information regarding Google’s Page 3, Lines 8-9, 11- internal systems and operations, 13, 15-24, 27-28; including details related to the Page 4, Lines 1-23; various types of identifiers, Page 5, Lines 1-21; cookies, and projects Google uses Page 6, Lines 1-27; internally and their proprietary Page 7, Lines 1-24, functions.

26-27;

Page 8, Lines 2-22;

Page 9, Lines 1-10;

Page 10, Lines 1-28;

Page 11, Lines 1-6, 9-

24;

Page 12, Lines 1-28;

Page 13, Lines 1-26;

Page 14, Lines 1-28

Ex. B to Plaintiffs’ Objections, GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect the Declaration of David redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary Straite dated October 27, 2021 information regarding Google’s Page 1, Lines 1-5, 16- internal systems and operations, 17, 26; including details related to the Page 2, Lines 16, 20- various types of identifiers, 21, 24, 27-28; cookies, and projects Google uses Page 3, Lines 1, 7, internally and their proprietary 11-23, 25; functions.

Page 4, Lines 3-4, 23,

26-28;

Page 5, Lines 1-6, 9,

14, 16, 17;

Page 6, Lines 2-4, 7-

15, 17, 19-21,

24;

Page 7, Lines 2, 6, 9-

10;

Page 8, Lines 2-3, 6-

17, 22-23, 25;

Page 9, Lines 1, 7, 9,

13-14, 23,

27-28;

Page 10, Lines 2-3,

25;

Page 11, Line 18

Ex. C to Plaintiffs’ Objections, GRANTED as to Contains confidential and GOOG-CALH-00027768 to Entire Document proprietary information regarding GOOG-CALH-00027771 Google’s internal systems and operations, including details related to the various types of identifiers, cookies, and projects Google uses internally and their proprietary functions.

Proposed Order GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary information regarding Google’s Page 4, Lines 9-15, internal systems and operations, 17, 24, 28; including details related to the Page 5, Lines 3, 5, 15; various types of identifiers, Page 6, Lines 13-16, cookies, and projects Google uses 19-23, 25; internally and their proprietary Page 7, Lines 2, 5. functions.

3. Dkt. 361

Court’s Ruling

Document Sought to be on Motion to Reason(s) for Court’s Ruling Sealed Seal

Google’s Responses and GRANTED as to Narrowly tailored to protect Objections to Special Master’s redacted portions at: confidential and proprietary Report and Orders on Referred information regarding sensitive Discovery Issues features of Google’s internal 1:6; 1:9; 3:2-3; 3:5; systems and operations, including 3:8-10; 3:13; 3:17-19; details related to various types of Google’s internal identifiers, 4:4-6; 4:10; 4:20-21; projects, data logs, and data structures related to its products 5:7-11; 5:13; 5:20-21 and services, that Google maintains as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the public or Google’s competitors.

Exhibit 1 GRANTED as Contains confidential and to the entire proprietary information regarding document sensitive features of Google’s internal systems and operations, including details related to various types of Google’s internal identifiers, projects, data logs, and data structures related to its products and services, that Google maintains as confidential in the is not generally known to the 2 Exhibit 2 GRANTED as Contains confidential and to the entire proprietary information regarding 3 document sensitive features of Google’s 4 internal systems and operations, including details related to 5 Google’s internal logs data and data usage policies, that Google 6 maintains as confidential in the 7 ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the 8 public or Google’s competitors. Exhibit 3 GRANTED as Contains confidential and 9 to the entire proprietary information regarding document sensitive features of Google’s internal systems and operations, ll including details related to Google’s internal identifiers and 3s 12 data usage policies, that Google maintains as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and 4 is not generally known to the public or Google’s competitors. B15 Exhibit 4 GRANTED as Contains confidential and to the entire proprietary information regarding 16 document sensitive features of Google’s internal systems and operations, 17 including details related to various types of Google’s internal logs and Z 18 their usage policies related to its products and services, that Google maintains as confidential in the ordinary course of its business and is not generally known to the public or Google’s competitors. SO ORDERED.

Dated: November 12, 2021

Suomn SUSAN VAN KEULEN United States Magistrate Judge