Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_19-cv-01350/USCOURTS-cand-3_19-cv-01350-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

BOBBIE ALLEN WOODS,

Plaintiff,

v.

CITY OF HAYWARD, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 19-cv-01350-JCS 

ORDER SEALING DECLARATION 

AND REQUIRING REDACTION 

Re: Dkt. No. 58

On March 4, 2020, in response to the Court’s request at the hearing on Defendants’ motion 

to dismiss, Defendants filed a declaration of their counsel Ankush Agarwal attaching a copy of a 

search warrant referenced in Plaintiff Bobbie Woods’s complaint and an affidavit supporting that 

warrant. The search warrant and affidavit include the names of multiple suspects. According to 

Woods’s complaint, the subject of the search warrant who resided at his home is a minor. The 

affidavit also includes the birthdates of several suspects, indicating that they are minors. Rule 

5.2(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure generally prohibits filing the birthdates of any 

individuals or the names of minors in the public record of a civil action in federal court, and 

instead requires parties to redact all but a minor’s initials and the year of any individual’s birth. 

Although the search warrant could perhaps fall within the exceptions for an “official record 

of a state-court proceeding” or a “record of a court or tribunal, if that record was not subject to the 

redaction requirement when originally filed,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2(b)(3)–(4), it is not clear that the 

search warrant would be available to the public outside of the record of this action, and even if it 

were, concerns about the privacy of juvenile law enforcement records would likely outweigh

further publicizing a minor suspect’s name in this Court’s docket. The Court declines to apply

those exceptions.

The declaration and attachments are therefore SEALED. To complete the public record of 

Case 3:19-cv-01350-JCS Document 59 Filed 03/05/20 Page 1 of 2
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

this action, Defendants are ORDERED to file a redacted version of the declaration and its 

attachments complying with Rule 5.2(a) no later than March 9, 2020.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 5, 2020

______________________________________

JOSEPH C. SPERO

Chief Magistrate Judge

Case 3:19-cv-01350-JCS Document 59 Filed 03/05/20 Page 2 of 2