Chavez-Chavez v. Barmann

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA MARIO CHAVEZ-CHAVEZ, Case No. 1:25-cv-00865-KES-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO SEAL DOCUMENTS 13 v. (Doc. 4) BERNARD C. BARMANN, et al., Clerk of the Court to Attach Redacted Civil 15 Defendants. Cover Sheet and to Lock Doc. 1-1 17 Pending before the Court is Defendant Bernard C. Barmann, Jr.’s notice and request to seal documents (Doc. 4), filed and emailed to the undersigned’s chambers on July 28, 2025.

19 Defendant represents that the document to be sealed (the civil cover sheet attached to the complaint, Doc. 1-1) contains the address of Defendant Barmann, who is a judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Kern. (Doc. 4-1 at 2). Defendant seeks to file a redacted copy of the civil cover sheet to shield the address of Mr. Barmann. Id., Ex. A.

23 The Court has considered the factors set forth in Oregonian Publ’g Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. of Or., 920 F.2d 1462 (9th Cir. 1990). The Court finds that sealing the document serves a compelling interest and that, in the absence of closure, the compelling interests would be harmed. The Court further finds that, as the document is already filed on the docket and Defendant has filed a redacted version (see Doc. 4-1, Ex. A), there are no additional alternatives to sealing the document that would adequately protect the compelling interests.

1 Conclusion and Order 2 Accordingly, pursuant to Local Rule 141 and based upon the representations contained in | Defendant’s notice and request, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the civil cover sheet attached | to the complaint (Doc. 1-1) shall be SEALED until further order of this Court.

5 The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to attach to this order the redacted copy of the civil | cover sheet included in Defendant’s notice and request (Doc. 4-1, Ex. A).

7 The Clerk of the Court is FURTHER DIRECTED to lock and make inaccessible to all | CM/ECF users the civil cover sheet (Doc. 1-1).

9 IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: _ August 5, 2025 | □□ D 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE