Opinion
24-cv-02880-BLF
08-06-2024
RUMBLE CANADA, INC., Plaintiff, v. GOOGLE LLC, et al., Defendants.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL EXHIBIT TO DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT [Re: ECF 18]
BETH LABSON FREEMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Defendants have filed an administrative motion to seal material in the Network Bidding Agreement (“NBA”) filed as an exhibit in support of Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint. See Admin. Mot. to File Under Seal, ECF 18. Specifically, Defendants seek leave to redact the names and titles of non-party employees of Google and Facebook. See Id. Plaintiff has stipulated to the sealing of the non-party employees' names and titles. See Joint Stipulation, ECF 18-4.
The NBA was filed as an exhibit to Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint, a motion going to the merits of Plaintiff's claims. For that reason, the Court finds that the NBA is “more than tangentially related to the merits of a case,” triggering application of the “compelling reasons” standard rather than the lesser “good cause” standard. See Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101-02, 1097 (9th Cir. 2006). “Courts in this District routinely find compelling reasons to seal personally-identifying information that has minimal relevance to the underlying causes of action.” Stiner v. Brookdale Senior Living, Inc., No. 17-CV-03962-HSG, 2022 WL 1180216, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 30, 2022). The Court finds that the names and titles of non-party employees have minimal relevance to the underlying claims, and that those employees' privacy interests satisfy the compelling reasons standard here. Defendants' sealing motion is narrowly tailored to request redaction of only the names and titles of non-party employees, which amount to only a handful of words in the 48-page NBA. See Civ. L.R. 79-5(a) (requiring that sealing motions be narrowly tailored).
Accordingly, Defendants' sealing motion is GRANTED as to the names and job titles of non-party employees highlighted in yellow at page 8, Section 1.61, Table 1 of the NBA submitted with the sealing motion, and at p. 31 of the NBA submitted with the sealing motion.
IT IS SO ORDERED.