Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.

Background

The court addressed three motions to seal materials submitted with two requests for case-management conferences. PGA Tour sought to seal portions of a December 14, 2022 joint statement and portions of a February 5, 2023 joint statement. LIV Golf supported sealing some materials it had designated as confidential and also sought sealing of portions of the December statement.

Legal standard

Because the materials were connected to case-management requests rather than the merits of the case, the court applied the lower “good cause” standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). That standard required a particularized showing that disclosure would cause specific harm or prejudice. General statements that information was sensitive or that disclosure could cause harm were insufficient. The court also required sealing requests to be narrowly tailored to information that was legally protectable.

Rulings

For the December joint statement, the court denied PGA Tour’s request because PGA Tour described its internal communications as sensitive but did not explain specifically how disclosure would cause harm. The court found that LIV did not provide a sufficiently specific explanation for sealing information about its formation and internal decision-making. The court did find good cause to seal portions containing particular terms of LIV’s contracts with Performance54, because disclosure could interfere with LIV’s negotiations and allow competitors to respond to its proposals. The court therefore granted in part and denied in part LIV’s request concerning the December statement.

For the February joint statement, the court granted PGA Tour’s request to seal information about its operations, corporate decision-making, and business relationships with other golf tours, finding that disclosure could cause competitive harm and damage business relationships. The court also granted LIV’s request to seal excerpts concerning its Shareholder Agreement, investor rights, corporate governance, and certain investors’ involvement in LIV’s operations and decision-making. The court found that disclosure could prejudice LIV’s ability to obtain outside funding and allow competitors to exploit information about its investors.

The court ordered the parties to meet and confer and file public redacted versions of both joint statements by March 3, 2023, using only the redactions permitted in the order’s table. The opinion’s narrative contains an apparent inconsistency referring to LIV’s February request as involving the December statement, while the final table identifies the relevant filing as the February 5 statement; this summary follows the final table and order.