Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.
- Beth Freeman
- 5:22-cv-04486
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc., Judge Freeman granted three requests to redact or seal records concerning service, case management, and related exhibits.
PGA Tour, Inc., LIV Golf, Inc., the parties whose confidential business communications were discussed, and non-party fact witnesses whose identifying information appeared in an exhibit.
What happened
In Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc., PGA Tour and LIV Golf asked the court to keep certain information from public view in records concerning alternative service and case management. The action had been voluntarily dismissed in June 2023.
The court approved redactions of two email addresses in PGA Tour’s motion for alternative service. It also approved redactions in the joint case management statement concerning LIV Golf’s business information, PGA Tour’s plans and government communications, and personal information about non-party witnesses. The court explained that the redactions were narrowly tailored to protect privacy or competitive interests.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted all three administrative motions to seal. The order stated that no further action was required from the parties.
The detailed version
- Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc. · No. 5:22-cv-04486
- Beth Freeman
- Oct. 5, 2023
Background
The court considered three administrative motions—requests to seal or redact court records—filed by PGA Tour, Inc. and LIV Golf, Inc. The requests involved PGA Tour’s motion seeking permission to serve its counterclaim by an alternative method on the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and His Excellency Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, as well as joint case management statements and related exhibits.
PGA Tour had earlier sought permission for alternative service, but the court denied that motion as moot after the Public Investment Fund and His Excellency Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan stated that they would not challenge service. The action was voluntarily dismissed in June 2023.
Legal standard
Court records are generally presumed to be available to the public. For records more than indirectly related to the merits of a case, a party seeking secrecy must show compelling reasons supported by specific facts that outweigh public access. For records involving motions not related, or only indirectly related, to the merits, the less demanding good-cause standard applies.
Rulings
The court granted the request to redact two email addresses from PGA Tour’s motion for alternative service. It found that email addresses are confidential personal contact information for which protection was justified.
The court also granted the requested redactions to the joint case management statement. The redactions concerning LIV Golf covered information about its formation, negotiations with sponsors and broadcasters, and communications with players and agents. The redactions concerning PGA Tour covered characterizations of and quotations from confidential communications about PGA Tour’s strategic business plans and communications with government agencies.
Finally, the court granted the request to seal the entire exhibit to the joint case management statement because it contained identifying information about non-party fact witnesses.
Effect of the order
Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted all three administrative motions to seal. The court stated that no further action was required from the parties regarding those motions.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.