Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_04-cv-00634/USCOURTS-cand-4_04-cv-00634-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Monsanto Company
Counter-claimant
The Regents of the University of California
Counter-defendant

Document Text:

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

NOT FOR CITATION

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA,

Plaintiff, No. C 04-0634 PJH

v. ORDER RE FILING OF DOCUMENTS

UNDER SEAL

MONSANTO COMPANY,

Defendant.

_______________________________/

Before the court is defendant Monsanto’s request to file under seal the entirety of its

motion for summary judgment and a number of exhibits in support. Plaintiff has stipulated that

it has no objection to the request.

The court will not approve a broad sealing order that essentially gives each party carte

blanche to decide which portions of the record will be sealed and, therefore, not made part of

the public record. See Civil L. R. 79-5 and Citizens First Nat'l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178

F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999). See also Standing Order re Sealed or Confidential Documents. 

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) requires the court to determine whether good cause

exists to seal any part of the record of a case. Accordingly, no document shall be filed under

seal, without a court order, narrowly tailored to cover only the document, the particular portion

of the document, or category of documents for which good cause exists for filing under seal. 

Thus, merely summarily stating that information contained in exhibits “is highly

confidential” without providing further information is not sufficient to grant a request to file even

individual exhibits to a declaration under seal. Furthermore, the court will not permit the filing

of the entirety of the memorandum of points and authorities under seal absent any showing by

Case 4:04-cv-00634-PJH Document 172 Filed 04/29/05 Page 1 of 2
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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Monsanto why such a broad order is appropriate. The court will, however, permit Monsanto to

file publicly a version of its brief in which the individual sentences or paragraphs containing

confidential information are redacted and file whole exhibits under seal upon a better showing

of good cause. 

To that end, if a party wishes to file a document under seal, that party shall first file a

written request for a sealing order setting forth the good cause for each individual redaction

and accompanied by a proposed order and public version of the brief as specified above. 

Defendant must also electronically file the public version of its brief and supporting

declarations, with only the confidential information at issue redacted or removed.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 29, 2005

___________/s/___________________

PHYLLIS J. HAMILTON

United States District Judge

Case 4:04-cv-00634-PJH Document 172 Filed 04/29/05 Page 2 of 2