Richard Dent v. National Football League

Background

The plaintiffs and the National Football League (NFL) filed motions to keep exhibits and related portions of briefs under seal in connection with the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The court explained that judicial records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. A party seeking to seal records must meet the “compelling reasons” standard by identifying specific reasons that outweigh the public interest in understanding the judicial process. Requests must also be narrowly tailored to cover only material that can properly be sealed.

Docket No. 169

The plaintiffs sought to seal all of dozens of exhibits supporting their class-certification motion, as well as portions of their brief referring to those exhibits. The request relied on the NFL’s designation of the exhibits as confidential under a stipulated protective order. The court held that reliance on a protective order was insufficient to establish that the documents were sealable, and noted that the NFL had not filed a declaration supporting sealing.

The court denied the motion at docket number 169.

Docket No. 174

The plaintiffs sought to keep nearly every exhibit submitted by the NFL in opposition to class certification under seal. They identified plaintiffs’ health information, other players’ health information, and plaintiffs’ financial information as the reasons for sealing.

As to health information, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ general reference to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 because that law did not protect against disclosure by this court under the circumstances described in the opinion. The court also found the request too broad because only small portions of the exhibits contained individually identifiable health information, while the plaintiffs sought to seal the exhibits in their entirety. The court stated that the health-information request was denied, finding that the information went to the heart of the case, was necessary for public understanding, and was not supported by a compelling reason for secrecy.

The plaintiffs also sought to seal exhibits from a related case involving the Arizona Cardinals Football Club and other parties. The exhibits included deposition transcripts and workers’ compensation documents. The court noted that much of this information was already public and that the material concerned medical care and drugs received by putative class members, making it closely related to the merits of the underlying action. The supplied opinion text ends immediately after stating, “Therefore, the motion to seal the,” so the complete wording of the disposition for this portion is not visible in the provided text. The court’s stated reasoning was that the plaintiffs had provided no compelling reason for sealing this information.

For the plaintiffs’ financial information, the court discussed workers’ compensation claims and benefits, disability claims and benefits, retirement claims and benefits, and settlement information. It rejected the assertion that receiving such benefits, by itself, made the plaintiffs vulnerable to unspecified financial scams. The court directed the plaintiffs to file public versions of the exhibits and the NFL’s brief, with redactions limited to the dollar amounts awarded and nothing more. It otherwise denied the motion to seal references to the plaintiffs’ workers’ compensation and disability claims.

Disposition

The court denied docket number 169. On docket number 174, it denied the request to seal the plaintiffs’ health information and otherwise denied the request concerning the plaintiffs’ workers’ compensation and disability claims, while requiring public filings with redactions limited to dollar amounts awarded. The exact disposition of the request concerning the related-case exhibits cannot be fully stated because the supplied text is incomplete. Judge William Alsup issued the order on August 31, 2021.