Local Rule LBR 9018-1: Sealing and Redaction of Documents

LBR 9018-1. Sealing and Redaction of Documents

(a) Scope of Rule. This rule governs the filing of documents considered to be secret, confidential, scandalous, or defamatory under Bankruptcy Rule 9018, which are not subject to the provisions for protection of personal identifiers of Bankruptcy Rule 9037. This rule addresses situations where the subject information to be sealed is required by a statute, rule, or Official Form or will be made available to the judge but inaccessible on the public record. This rule may be supplemented by requirements contained in specific procedures issued by the clerk and posted at the court's website.

(b) Motion Required. No document may be sealed without court approval. A stipulation or blanket protective order that allows a party to designate matters to be filed under seal will not suffice to allow filing a document or other matter under seal. A motion to seal must describe the item to be sealed, as well as specify the applicable standard for sealing the information and discuss how that standard is met. The motion itself should not contain or attach any confidential information. Any document containing confidential information proposed to be sealed must be a separately captioned document to be the subject of a separate entry on the docket.

(c) Objection. No later than 7 days after the filing of a motion to seal, any party who contends that any information is not entitled to confidential treatment may file an objection.

(d) Denial of Motion. If the motion to seal is denied, the clerk will destroy or return to the moving party any paper document asserted to be confidential. If already filed electronically by the moving party, the subject document will remain on the docket but restricted from public access and the information will not be considered by the court.

(e) Filing of Redacted Version of Sealed Document. Every document approved for the sealing of certain information must have a corresponding redacted version filed on the docket. If an entire document is approved for sealing, a cover sheet with case caption and title of document must be filed on the docket.

(f) Submission of Documents to be Sealed. Unless the court orders otherwise, documents approved for sealing will be electronically filed and their images stored in the CM/ECF system, with access to the sealed documents limited to court staff.

(g) Unsealing. For good cause, the court may order the unsealing of a document at any time.