Boothe v. First Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company

Background

Pearline Boothe brought an action to recover group long-term disability benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. She asked the court for permission to keep the administrative record under seal. The administrative record is the material compiled during the benefits claim process and is expected to be reviewed in connection with summary-judgment motions.

The record is 5,113 pages long and contains thousands of pages of medical records. The letter requesting sealing stated that the record includes sensitive personal information, including addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and clinical information. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company consented to the request.

Court’s ruling

The court stated that, under Rule 9(C)(ii) of its Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases, parties must seek permission to file a document under seal at the same time that they file the document itself under seal through the court’s electronic filing system. Because the parties appeared likely to file the administrative record shortly and had not followed that procedure, the court denied the request without prejudice to its renewal in accordance with Rule 9(C)(ii). The clerk was directed to terminate the pending motion at docket entry 28. The order did not decide whether the administrative record ultimately should be sealed.