Impossible Foods Inc. v. Impossible X LLC

Background

Impossible Foods Inc. filed an administrative motion to seal the declaration of Judy Lucas-McGreevy. The declaration was submitted in response to a court order arising from the parties’ ongoing discovery dispute. Impossible X LLC and Joel Runyon opposed the motion. With the defendants’ consent, Impossible Foods also asked for permission to file a reply, and the court granted that request.

Court’s analysis

Court records are generally presumed to be available for public inspection. The required showing depends on how closely the records relate to the merits of the case. The court explained that the “good cause” standard applied here because the declaration was discovery-related and did not concern the merits. The declaration contained information about Impossible Foods’ internal information-technology systems, document-retention policies, and depreciation processes. The court found that disclosure could harm Impossible Foods in future litigation and could affect how competitors and business partners interacted with the company.

The defendants argued that Impossible Foods had not justified sealing paragraphs 4 through 14, which they described as effectively the declaration’s entire substance. The court rejected that objection. It emphasized that discovery is generally conducted privately and that the declaration might ordinarily have been exchanged during discovery without being filed publicly. Given that the filing resulted from the court’s order in a discovery dispute about discovery itself, the court found good cause to seal the declaration in its entirety.

Ruling

Judge Susan Van Keulen granted the administrative motion to seal the declaration and ordered the clerk to maintain Docket No. 252-2 under seal. The court also granted the request to file a reply.