Vaughn v. Cohen

1 THE HONORABLE TIFFANY M. CARTWRIGHT

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON CAROL VAUGHN, in her representative capacity as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF MICHAEL A. COHEN, NO. 3:23-cv-06142-TMC 9 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO FILE CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS 10 v. UNDER SEAL LOREN COHEN, et al., NOTED FOR CONSIDERATION: JANUARY 7, 2025 12 Defendants.

13 *** WILLIAM NEWCOMER, 15 Plaintiff, 16 v. LOREN COHEN, et al., 18 Defendants, 19 v. AMARA COHEN, individually, and SUSAN COHEN, Trustee of the Michael Arthur Cohen Spousal Equivalent Access Trust, CAROL VAUGHN, individually, and in her representative capacity as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF MICHAEL COHEN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL REVENUE), and BR NEWCOMER, LLC, 25 Third-Party Defendants.

1 I. STIPULATION 2 The parties below, through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and respectfully request leave of Court to file under seal the following: Exhibits 12 and 18 to the Declaration of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment. See Dkts. 149 and 150.

6 1. The Stipulated Protective Order (“SPO”) provides, in relevant part: “Before filing confidential material or discussing or referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer with the designating party, in accordance with Local Civil Rule 5(g)(3)(A), to determine whether the designating party will remove the confidential designation, whether the document can be redacted, or whether a motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is warranted. During the meet and confer process, the designating party must identify in writing within seven business days of the initial request for a meet and confer the basis for sealing the specific confidential information at issue, and the filing party shall include this basis in its motion to seal, along with any objection to sealing the information at issue. Local Civil Rule 5(g) sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. A party who seeks to maintain the confidentiality of its information must satisfy the requirements of Local Civil Rule 5(g)(3)(B), even if it is not the party filing the motion to seal. Failure to satisfy this requirement will result in the motion to seal being denied, in accordance with the strong presumption of public access to the Court’s files. Dkt. 112 at ¶ 4.3.

21 2. On December 23, 2024, Loren’s attorneys filed two medical records, four medical expert reports, and the 2019 and 2020 tax returns for M&J Real Estate Investments, LLC, under seal along with a Motion to Seal. See Dkts. 149, 150.

24 3. On January 3, 2025, the parties conferred by email regarding sealing. Based on objections to the sealing of the tax returns, Loren agreed to withdraw the request to seal these records, except as to personal data identifiers listed in LCR 5.2(a). Ms. Vaughn confirmed she does not see a basis to seal the reports by medical experts. Ms. Vaughn confirmed that she would like the two pages of medical records of Decedent at issue to remain under seal. No party objects to the sealing of Decedent’s medical records.

3 4. Compelling reasons justify the sealing of Decedent’s medical records.

4 Understanding that the “compelling reasons” standard applied by the federal courts is stringent and not intended to “rubber stamp” party stipulations, see Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006), the parties agree that the two pages of the Decedent’s medical records filed by Loren Cohen should be sealed.

8 5. Pursuant to this stipulation, Loren’s attorneys will file the previously sealed tax returns and reports by medical experts in open court, subject to any LCR 5.2(a) redactions and hereby withdraw Loren’s Motion to Seal, (Dkt. 149), as to all documents other than the medical records, which the parties agree should remained sealed at this time.

12 STIPULATED TO AND DATED this 8th day of January, 2025.

TERRELL MARSHALL LAW GROUP LAW OFFICES OF JACK B. KRONA, JR. PLLC By: /s/ Jack B. Krona Jr. By: /s/ Adrienne D. McEntee Jack B. Krona, Jr., WSBA No. 42484 Adrienne D. McEntee, WSBA No. 34061 E-mail: [email protected] 16 E-mail: [email protected] 5020 Main Street, Suite H Toby J. Marshall, WSBA No. 32726 Tacoma, WA 98407 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (253) 341-9331 18 936 North 34th Street, Suite 300 Seattle, Washington 98103 Attorney for Loren and Holland Cohen, LMC 19 Telephone: (206) 816-6603 Family Trust, BR Real Estate Investments, LLC, Two Bonney Ridge LLC and PC Attorneys for Loren Cohen individually Collections, LLC THOMPSON HOWLE VAUGHN LEE SMART, P.S., INC. By: /s/ Carol Vaughn By: /s/ Marc Rosenberg 23 Carol Vaughn, WSBA No. 16579 Marc Rosenberg, WSBA No. 31034 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] 24 1200 Fifth Avenue, Suite 625 Hildja S. Saas, WSBA No. 37691 Seattle, WA 98101 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (206) 682-8400 701 Pike Street, Suite 1800 26 Seattle, Washington 98101 Personal Representative and attorney for the Telephone: (206) 262-8308 Estate of Michael Cohen 1 Attorneys for Counterclaim Defendant Carol Vaughn SMITH ALLING, P.S. KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. By: /s/ Russsell A. Knight By: /s/ Eric R. Laliberte Russell A. Knight, WSBA No. 40614 Eric R. Laliberte, WSBA No. 44840 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] 1501 Dock Street 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 Tacoma, WA 98402 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (253) 627-1091 Telephone: (206) 623-1900 Attorneys for William Newcomer and BR Attorneys for Amara Cohen and Susan Cohen Newcomer, LLC

1 Il. ORDER 2 IT IS SO ORDERED.

3 1. The medical records included as Exhibits 12 and 18 to the Declaration of | Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment | shall be filed under seal.

6 2. Tax returns attached as Exhibits 1 to the Declaration of Adrienne D. McEntee in | Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment shall be filed in open court, | subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions.

9 3. The report of expert Dr. Elaine Peskind, attached as Exhibit 14 to the Declaration | of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Defendant Loren Cohen’s Motion for Summary Judgment | shall be filed in open court, subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions.

12 4. The reports of Dr. Jennifer Piel, attached Exhibits A, B, and D to the Declaration | of Adrienne D. McEntee in Support of Motions to Exclude Experts, shall be filed in open court, | subject to LCR 5.2(a) redactions.

16 DATED this 8th day of January, 2025.

18 A CCL 19 THE HONORABLE TIFFANY M.

CARTWRIGHT STIPULATED MOTION TO FILE CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS □□ a aw Grour pric UNDER SEAL -5 Seattle, Washington 98103-8869