Local Rule DUCivR 5-3: FILING DOCUMENTS UNDER COURT SEAL
D. Utah — Civil rule
DUCivR 5-3 FILING DOCUMENTS UNDER COURT SEAL
(a) General Rule.
(1) The records of the court are presumptively open to the public. The sealing of pleadings, motions, memoranda, exhibits, and other documents or portions thereof (Documents) is highly discouraged. Unless restricted by statute or court order, the public will have access to all Documents filed with the court and to all court proceedings. On motion of a party and a showing of good cause, a judge may order that a Document be sealed. A stipulation or a blanket protective order that allows a party to designate documents as sealable will not suffice to allow the filing of Documents under seal. See the court's ECF Procedures Manual for procedures regarding filing sealed documents nonelectronically.
(2) To prevent the overdesignation of sealed Documents in the court record, counsel must:
(A) refrain from filing motions or memoranda under seal merely because an attached exhibit contains protectable information;
(B) redact personal identifiers, as set forth in DUCivR 5.2-1, and publicly file the Document;
(C) redact the confidential portions of a Document when they are not directly pertinent to the issues before the court and publicly file the Document; and
(D) if the protectable information is pertinent to the legal issues before the court, redact the protectable information from the Document and publicly file the Document. Follow the procedure below to file a sealed version of the Document.
(b) Procedure for Filing Under Seal.
(1) Unless the court orders otherwise, a party must first publicly file a redacted version of the Document. A Motion for Leave to File Under Seal must be filed contemporaneously with the proposed sealed Document. The motion and proposed sealed Document must be filed as separate docket entries and both linked to the redacted version of the Document. The motion, which may be filed under seal if necessary, and the proposed sealed Document must be electronically filed. The portion of the Document sought to be filed under seal must be highlighted to identify the specific information that is sought to be sealed.
(2) The Motion for Leave to File Under Seal must specify why the Document is privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. Specifically, the motion must:
(A) be narrowly tailored to seek protection of only the specific information that the party alleges is truly deserving of protection; and
(B) state the duration of the seal; and
(C) state the statute, rule, case law, or reason supporting the sealing of the Document; or
(i) If the sole basis for proposing that the Document be sealed is that another party designated it as confidential or for attorneys' eyes only, then so state that reason in the motion. If the designating party seeks to have the Document remain under seal, the designating party must file a Motion for Leave to File Under Seal in accordance with DUCivR 5-3(b)(2) within 7 days of service of the motion. If the designating party does not file a motion within 7 days, the original motion may be denied, and the Document may be unsealed without further notice.
(3) The court may make an independent determination as to whether the Document will be sealed, regardless of the parties' agreement or a party's decision not to oppose a Motion for Leave to File Under Seal.
(4) Subsequent Documents containing information that has already been the subject of an order allowing a sealed filing must state on the caption page, directly under the case number: "FILED UNDER SEAL PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER (DOCKET NO. ____)."
(5) A Document filed under seal pursuant to section 5-3(b)(1) above will remain sealed until the court either denies the Motion for Leave to File Under Seal or enters an order unsealing it.
(6) The court may direct the unsealing of a Document, with or without redactions, after notice to all parties and an opportunity to be heard, with the exception set forth above in section 5-3(b)(2)(C)(i).
(7) The requirements of section 5-3(b) may be modified by the court upon a showing of good cause.
(c) Access to Sealed Documents.
Unless the court orders otherwise, the clerk will not provide access to or make copies of sealed documents.