Rodoni v. County of Santa Clara
- Beth Freeman
- 5:18-cv-04324
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Rodoni v. City of Campbell, Judge Freeman granted plaintiffs’ motion to seal documents containing minors’ names and birthdates.
The plaintiffs, including minor plaintiffs whose names and birthdates appeared in the documents, and access to those unredacted documents.
What happened
Rodoni v. City of Campbell involved plaintiffs’ request to file unredacted settlement documents concerning minor plaintiffs under seal. The documents contained minors’ names and birthdates.
The court granted the administrative motion to seal. It noted that court filings must redact a minor’s name and birthdate information, except for the birth year, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2. No one opposed the motion.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman issued the order on February 15, 2022. The order granted the plaintiffs’ sealing motion after finding good cause.
The detailed version
- Rodoni v. County of Santa Clara · No. 5:18-cv-04324
- Beth Freeman
- Feb. 15, 2022
Background
Plaintiffs filed an administrative motion asking to submit unredacted versions of two documents under seal: their petition for approval of minors’ interests in a settlement with the City of Campbell and their proposed order on that petition. Redacted copies had already been filed. Plaintiffs said the unredacted documents contained the names and birthdates of minor plaintiffs and that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 required this information to be filed under seal. No opposition was filed.
Legal standard
The court explained that requests to seal judicial records connected more than tangentially to the underlying case generally require compelling reasons that outweigh the public’s interest in access. The court also noted that Civil Local Rule 79-5 requires a sealing motion to explain the interests supporting sealing, the harm that would result if sealing were denied, and why a less restrictive alternative would not be sufficient. Rule 5.2 requires a party to redact a known minor’s name and an individual’s birthdate information, other than the birth year, from a court filing.
Ruling
The court found good cause and granted the plaintiffs’ sealing motion. The order did not state any other disposition. Judge Beth Labson Freeman signed the order.
Effect
The ruling allowed the plaintiffs to file the unredacted versions of the two identified documents under seal. The opinion does not identify the minor plaintiffs by name.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.