Global Industrial Investment Limited v. Chung

Background

Defendant Andrew Chung filed an administrative motion to seal portions of Exhibit 8 attached to his reply supporting his motion to dismiss. Chung identified about eleven lines containing the names and compensation arrangements of employees and potential hires at his venture capital firm, 1955 Capital.

Legal standard

Court records are generally presumed to be open to the public. Because Exhibit 8 was more than tangentially related to the underlying claims, the court applied the “compelling reasons” standard. Under that standard, sealing may be justified when disclosure could, among other things, reveal trade secrets or harm a party’s competitive position.

The court also applied Civil Local Rule 79-5, which requires a sealing request to identify material that is legally protectable, seek sealing narrowly, include a supporting declaration and proposed order, and provide an unredacted version showing the omitted material.

Court’s reasoning

The court found that Chung submitted a narrowly tailored declaration complying with the local rule. It held that the identified portions were sealable because public disclosure of the sensitive business information could harm a litigant’s competitive standing. The court also noted that another court in the district had sealed the same information in a related case involving the same arbitration award.

Disposition

Judge Lucy Koh granted Defendant Andrew Chung’s motion to file portions of Exhibit 8 under seal. The order did not decide the underlying motion to dismiss.