May v. Google LLC

Background

Defendants filed an administrative motion asking the court to consider whether Plaintiff Judy May’s material should be sealed. May filed a declaration supporting the sealing of the identified materials. The motion concerned an exhibit connected to Defendants’ opposition to May’s motion for substitution, intervention, and leave to amend.

The exhibit was an email containing May’s personal information, including her email address. The opinion states that Defendants took no position on the sealing request. May asked that the information be sealed because she said sealing was necessary to protect her family’s privacy and prevent the use of her information to commit identity theft.

Legal standard

Court records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. For records connected more than tangentially to the underlying claims, the party seeking secrecy must show compelling reasons that outweigh the public’s interest in access. The court also noted that records attached only to nondispositive motions may be subject to the lower good-cause standard, which requires a specific showing of likely prejudice or harm.

The court determined that the compelling-reasons standard applied because the exhibit was connected to Defendants’ opposition to May’s motion for substitution, intervention, and leave to amend. Under that standard, the court recognized that protecting personal information to preserve an individual’s privacy and prevent harm or identity theft can justify sealing.

Ruling

The court found that May had established compelling reasons to keep the personal information confidential. Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted Defendants’ Administrative Motion to Consider Whether Plaintiff’s Material Should Be Sealed at ECF No. 107 and ordered that the exhibit filed at ECF No. 107 remain under seal.