Konyukhova v. Walgreen Company

Background

Plaintiff Esmiralda Konyukhova filed a letter motion on August 19, 2025. She asked the Court to seal ECF Nos. 1, 16, 22, 24 (Attachment 1), 77, and 79. She also asked the Court to require Defendants to redact medical and health-related information about her and her family from all future filings or to file materials containing that information under seal.

Legal standard

The Court explained that judicial documents—documents filed with the court that are relevant to the court’s work and useful in the judicial process—are generally presumed to be publicly accessible. The party seeking to seal a document bears a heavy burden to show that sealing is essential to protect a higher value and is narrowly tailored to protect that interest. The Court also described a three-step process: deciding whether the material is a judicial document, determining the strength of the public-access presumption, and balancing that presumption against legitimate reasons for restricting disclosure.

Ruling

The Court found that Konyukhova’s request was not narrowly tailored because she sought to seal entire documents without explaining whether targeted redactions would address her concerns. The Court therefore denied the letter motion without prejudice.

The Court ordered Konyukhova to file, by September 2, 2025, a letter proposing redactions to specific pages in the six identified docket entries that contain medical or health-related information. If she continued to seek sealing of an entire document, she had to explain why redactions would not be sufficient. For future filings by Defendants containing medical or health-related information about Konyukhova or her family, the parties were directed to meet and confer about redactions and then file any appropriate motion to seal.