Local Rule LR Gen 102: DOCUMENTS CONTAINING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

LR Gen 102 DOCUMENTS CONTAINING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

(a) Privacy Protections. It is the responsibility of any party or non-party filing a document, not the Clerk's Office, to review each document to determine if pleadings are in compliance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2, Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, and the Judicial Conference Policy on Privacy and Public Access to the Electronic Case Files.

If the Court finds a document that contains personal identifiers referenced in Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 and Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, the Clerk's Office will limit non-parties' remote electronic access to the document containing the personal identifiers, and direct the party responsible for the filing to file a redacted version of the document.

(b) Sealed Documents.

(1) Filing of Sealed Documents. Documents may be sealed by order of the Court only upon the filing of a motion to seal. A motion to seal in accordance with LR Cv 7 and LR Cr 47 stating the basis for the sealing and the document(s) subject to the motion to seal must be filed electronically and will remain provisionally under seal until the Court rules on the motion. Documents submitted by a party under seal, provisionally or otherwise, must be stamped or labeled by the party on the cover page "FILED UNDER SEAL."

If the Court denies the motion to seal, the document(s) subject to the motion to seal will not be accepted for filing in the case.

(2) Service of Motions to Seal.

(A) Civil Cases. A motion to seal in a civil case may be served electronically if the party is a Filing User of the Court's ECF system. Parties who are ineligible to file and receive documents electronically or exempt from electronic filing must be served pursuant to LR Cv 5.1(b).

(B) Criminal Cases. A motion to seal in a criminal case must be served on all parties in the case pursuant to LR Cr 49.

(3) Limiting Sealed Filings and Redactions. Rather than automatically requesting the sealing of an entire motion or other filing, parties shall consider whether redaction would be sufficient. If only a portion of a document contains confidential information, the party requesting sealing pursuant to (b)(1) shall file both an unredacted version of the document and a redacted version that excises the confidential information.

(4) Exceptions.

(a) Sealed Cases. Parties do not need to file a separate motion to seal for pleadings or documents filed in cases that are sealed pursuant to statute, Court order, or local rule, provided that the document be stamped or labeled by the party on the cover page "FILED UNDER SEAL." Sealed cases would include, but are not limited to, grand jury proceedings, pen register requests, wire and video interceptions, and qui tam actions.

(b) Ex parte Filings. Parties do not need to file a separate motion to seal for pleadings or documents filed ex parte, provided that the document be stamped or labeled by the party on the cover page "FILED EX PARTE."

(c) Unsealing of Documents. Documents sealed by the Court may be unsealed at any time upon motion of a party or non-party or by the Court sua sponte, provided that the parties first are given notice and an opportunity to be heard.

(d) Use of Pseudonyms in Civil Matters. A party wishing to proceed pseudonymously in a civil matter before this Court must file a motion in accordance with LR Cv 7. Additionally, the moving party must simultaneously file a separate document listing the true name(s) of any pseudonym(s) used in the pleading that will be automatically restricted by the Clerk's Office upon filing.

Effective 4/1/24: §(d) added. Effective 12/1/18:§(b)(2) amended. Effective 12/1/17: §(b)(1) amended; §(b)(4) added. Effective 12/1/16: §§(b),(c), and (d) deleted, new §(b) added, and §(e) redesignated at (c). Effective 12/1/15: §§(c) and (d) amended. Effective 12/15/14: §§(a)(1) and (a)(3) deleted; §(a)(2) amended and redesignated as (a); and §(c) amended. Effective 1/3/11: §§(a), (b), and (c) amended; §§(a), (b), (c), and (d) redesignated as §§(b), (c), (d), and (e); new §(a) added. Effective 3/17/08: §§(a)(4), (b) and (c) amended.

CROSS-REFERENCES See generally LR Cv 7 (Motions and Other Papers) and LR Cr 47 (Motions and Other Papers). See also Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2; Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1.