Della v. Colgate-Palmolive Company

Background

Colgate-Palmolive Company filed an administrative motion seeking to file certain materials under seal or in redacted form. The materials included the Declaration of Ronald T. Wilcox, Ph.D., the Declaration of Ran Kivetz, Ph.D., and Colgate’s opposition brief. The motion also sought to seal two exhibits in their entirety: Exhibit F to the Declaration of Greg Corra in support of Colgate’s opposition to class certification and Exhibit P to the Omnibus Declaration of Kate T. Spelman.

The court had previously granted the sealing motion in an order dated December 1, 2025. The court reconsidered that decision before entry of judgment.

Reasons for the Ruling

The court found that Colgate’s proposed order did not comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5(c)(3). That rule required a narrowly tailored proposed order identifying only sealable material and listing each document or portion sought to be sealed in a table. The proposed order listed only the two exhibits Colgate sought to seal entirely, rather than identifying the portions of the other documents that Colgate sought to file in redacted form.

The court also found that Colgate did not provide unredacted versions of either exhibit sought to be sealed. Instead, it filed placeholder pages stating that the exhibits were filed under seal, rather than filing the exhibits separately as required.

Disposition

Judge Joseph C. Spero denied the motion to seal without prejudice. The court stated that Colgate could file a renewed sealing motion correcting the identified errors.