Troyer v. The Yerba Mate Co., LLP
- William Alsup
- 3:20-cv-06065
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Casey Troyer v. The Yerba Mate Co., LLC, Judge Alsup denied Troyer’s motion to seal two class-certification exhibits because it covered entire spreadsheets.
Casey Troyer’s request to seal two exhibits was denied; the ruling also concerns public access to those court records.
What happened
Casey Troyer asked the court to keep two spreadsheets supporting his request to certify a class from public view. The spreadsheets contained invoice lists and records tracking location, app use, and customer information.
Troyer argued that the defendants had marked the exhibits confidential under a protective order and might consider them trade secrets. The court said this explanation did not justify sealing the entire spreadsheets, especially because only small portions contained customer names and locations.
Judge William Alsup denied the motion. The court explained that only information supported by specific reasons for secrecy should be sealed, if any.
The detailed version
- Troyer v. The Yerba Mate Co., LLP · No. 3:20-cv-06065
- William Alsup
- May 12, 2021
Background
Casey Troyer moved to file two exhibits under seal in support of his motion for class certification. The exhibits were electronic spreadsheets containing lists of invoices and records from an application used in Troyer’s work. The application tracked location and use of the application, along with related customer information.
Troyer stated that the defendants had marked the exhibits confidential under a protective order and presumably considered them trade secrets. He also noted that a declaration from his expert repeated some information from the exhibits, including customer names and locations.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that court records generally have a strong presumption of public access. A party seeking to seal records must provide specific factual reasons that overcome that presumption. The court recognized that business information that might harm a litigant’s competitive standing can sometimes justify sealing.
The court held that Troyer’s explanation was insufficient. It stated that, even if customer names and locations qualified as business information that could harm competitive standing—which the court described as doubtful—only those portions should be sealed. Troyer had instead sought to seal the entire spreadsheets, even though only small portions contained customer names and locations.
Disposition
The court denied the motion to file the two exhibits under seal. Judge William Alsup signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.