Opinion
Civil Action No. 12-cv-01918-PAB-MJW
09-27-2012
Judge Philip A. Brimmer
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the complaint [Docket No. 1] and various other filings [Docket Nos. 12-16] and orders [Docket Nos. 8, 11]. The foregoing documents reveal the "name of an individual known to be a minor." Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a). Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(h), "[a] person waives the protection of Rule 5.2(a) as to the person's own information by filing it without redaction and not under seal." Despite some authority to the contrary, it is not clear to the Court that plaintiff Margarita Madrigal has the authority, or intended, to waive the protections of Rule 5.2(a) on behalf of the minor children plaintiffs.
Therefore, it is
ORDERED that Docket Nos. 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 shall be restricted at Level One. It is further
ORDERED that the caption on the Electronic Court Filing system as well as on all future pleadings shall comport with the caption on the present order. It is further
ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall re-file without restriction Docket Nos. 8 and 11 with redactions that comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a). It is further
ORDERED that, on or before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 5, 2012, the parties who originally filed each of the foregoing documents shall re-file without restriction each document with redactions that comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a).
BY THE COURT:
____________
PHILIP A. BRIMMER
United States District Judge
Orlandi ex rel. Colon v. Navistar Leasing Co., 2011 WL 3874870, at *1 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 2, 2011) ("Although actions brought in the name of a minor should identify the minor only by her initials, this case was filed in 2009 with the infant Plaintiff's full name in the caption and throughout the Complaint. There is little point, therefore, in the Court's referring to the infant Plaintiff merely by her initials.") (citation omitted); Stein v. Sparks, 2009 WL 5066661, at *1 n.1 (E.D. Tenn. Dec. 16, 2009) ("Although [two of the plaintiffs] are minors, since Plaintiffs have failed to redact their names and use initials, the privacy protections are waived pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(h).").