Opinion ID: 787090
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jurisdiction To Unseal Documents

Text: 30 The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal in the district court pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1)(ii). Rule 41 provides: 31 Subject to the provisions of [rules inapplicable here] and of any statute of the United States, an action may be dismissed by the plaintiff without order of court ... (ii) by filing a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared in the action. 32 Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1)(ii). 33 Generally, as the Bank suggests, a plaintiff's filing in the district court of a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(ii) divests the court of its jurisdiction over a case, irrespective of whether the district court approves the stipulation. See Hester Indus., Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 160 F.3d 911, 916 (2d Cir.1998) (holding that a case is dismissed when the parties file a stipulation of dismissal pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(ii)), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1131, 119 S.Ct. 1805, 143 L.Ed.2d 1009 (1999); accord Marques v. Fed. Reserve Bank, 286 F.3d 1014, 1018 (7th Cir.2002) ([A] judgment on the merits that is entered after the plaintiff has filed a proper Rule 41(a)(1) notice of dismissal is indeed void.); Meinecke v. H & R Block, 66 F.3d 77, 82 (5th Cir.1995) (per curiam) (holding that the district court's grant of summary judgment to a party after the parties filed a stipulation pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(ii) was void); Hinsdale v. Farmers Nat'l Bank & Trust Co., 823 F.2d 993, 995-96 (6th Cir.1987) (holding that a dismissal pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(ii) terminated the district court's jurisdiction except for the limited purpose of reopening and setting aside the judgment of dismissal within the scope allowed by Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). 34 It simply does not follow, however, that the filing of a stipulation of dismissal divests a court of jurisdiction either to dispose of material in its files as it thinks appropriate or to modify or vacate its own protective orders with respect to such documents. 35 The public has a common law presumptive right of access to judicial documents, see United States v. Amodeo, 44 F.3d 141, 145-46 (2d Cir.1995) ( Amodeo I ), and likely a constitutional one as well. 4 As to the former, we have said: 36 The public's exercise of its common law access right in civil cases promotes public confidence in the judicial system.... As with other branches of government, the bright light cast upon the judicial process by public observation diminishes the possibilities for injustice, incompetence, perjury, and fraud. Furthermore, the very openness of the process should provide the public with a more complete understanding of the judicial system and a better perception of its fairness. 37 United States v. Amodeo, 71 F.3d 1044, 1048 (2d Cir.1995) ( Amodeo II ) (ellipsis in original) (quoting Leucadia, Inc. v. Applied Extrusion Techs., Inc., 998 F.2d 157, 161 (3d Cir.1993) (quoting Republic of the Philippines v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 949 F.2d 653, 660 (3d Cir.1991) (citation omitted))). We have observed that, consistent with this rationale for public access, the presumptive right to public observation is at its apogee when asserted with respect to documents relating to matters that directly affect an adjudication. Id. at 1049. Such documents include those relating to the decision of a motion for summary judgment, such as the grant and denial of partial summary judgment by the district court here. See Joy v. North, 692 F.2d 880, 893 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1051, 103 S.Ct. 1498, 75 L.Ed.2d 930 (1983). In part because they relate to a court's adjudication process, documents used by parties moving for, or opposing, summary judgment should not remain under seal absent the most compelling reasons. Id. Although parties to litigation may thus overcome the presumption of access by supplying most compelling reasons, they cannot expunge the public interest by the simple expedient of filing a stipulation of dismissal with the court. The public's stake in the propriety and particulars of the court's adjudication does not evaporate upon the parties' subsequent decision to settle. 38 It is, moreover, fundamental that [e]very court has supervisory power over its own records and files. Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 55 L.Ed.2d 570 (1978); United States v. Graham, 257 F.3d 143, 152 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting Nixon ). It is undisputed that a district court retains the power to modify or lift protective orders that it has entered. In re Agent Orange Prod. Liab. Litig., 821 F.2d 139, 145 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 953, 108 S.Ct. 344, 98 L.Ed.2d 370 (1987). The First Circuit has observed that 39 [A] protective order, like any ongoing injunction, is always subject to the inherent power of the district court to relax or terminate the order, even after judgment. 40 This retained power in the court to alter its own ongoing directives provides a safety valve for public interest concerns, changed circumstances or any other basis that may reasonably be offered for later adjustment. 41 Poliquin v. Garden Way, Inc., 989 F.2d 527, 535 (1st Cir.1993) (citation omitted). The court's supervisory power does not disappear because jurisdiction over the relevant controversy has been lost. The records and files are not in limbo. So long as they remain under the aegis of the court, they are superintended by the judges who have dominion over the court. See United Nuclear Corp. v. Cranford Ins. Co., 905 F.2d 1424, 1427 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1073, 111 S.Ct. 799, 112 L.Ed.2d 860 (1991) (As long as a protective order remains in effect, the court that entered the order retains the power to modify it, even if the underlying suit has been dismissed.). 42 As we have held and as the Bank concedes, a district court can modify a protective order when a third party requests judicial documents after the parties have filed a stipulation of dismissal pursuant to settlement. See Agent Orange, 821 F.2d at 143-45. 5 We have never ruled on the district court's jurisdiction, to which the Bank pointedly objects, to modify a protective order sua sponte after the parties have filed a stipulation of dismissal. But we see no reason why the absence of a motion of a party to the litigation or some third party requesting that a seal or protective order be lifted should remove a federal court's ability to monitor and modify its previous orders in exercise of its supervisory power over its own records and files. Nixon, 435 U.S. at 598, 98 S.Ct. 1306; see Stern v. Trs. of Columbia Univ., 131 F.3d 305, 307 (2d Cir.1997) (requiring, sua sponte, that the district court review records filed wholesale under seal to determine whether their confidential treatment was warranted, without considering whether there was a person or entity that had a specific interest in gaining access to them or maintaining them in the public files of the court); cf. Citizens First Nat'l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 943, 945 (7th Cir.1999) (The judge is the primary representative of the public interest in the judicial process and is duty-bound therefore to review any request to seal the record (or part of it).); Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc., 184 F.Supp.2d 1353, 1363 (N.D.Ga.2002) ([T]he existence of public scrutiny or active media interest in a case does not control whether [a protective order] is warranted.). 43 A district court that concludes that there is a public right of access to judicial documents thus acts within its jurisdiction when it modifies or vacates a protective order to allow that access, irrespective of whether it does so before or after a stipulation of dismissal has been filed. We therefore conclude that the district court here acted within its jurisdiction when it issued the Unsealing Order even though the order followed the parties' filing of the Stipulation of Dismissal.