Whitewater West Industries, LTD. v. Pacific Surf Designs, Inc. et al

MOTION to File Documents Under Seal

S.D. Cal.August 15, 2018

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 BUCHALTER A P R O F E S S I O N A L C O R P O R A T I O N I R V I N E Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal Case No. 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM BN 33789344v1 BUCHALTER A Professional Corporation J. Rick Taché (SBN: 195100) Roger L. Scott (SBN: 247165) Erikson C. Squier (SBN: 275274) 18400 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 800 Irvine, CA 92612-0514 Telephone: 949.760.1121 Facsimile: 949.720.0182 Email: rtache@buchalter.com rscott@buchalter.com ecsquier@buchalter.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Whitewater West Industries, Ltd. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA WHITEWATER WEST INDUSTRIES, LTD., a Canadian corporation, Plaintiff, vs. PACIFIC SURF DESIGNS, INC., a Delaware corporation, and FLOW SERVICES, INC., a California corporation, Defendants. Case No. 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL EXHIBIT 1 AND PORTIONS OF ITS OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SANCTIONS (ECF NO. 154) Case 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM Document 156 Filed 08/15/18 PageID.5628 Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 BUCHALTER A P R O F E S S I O N A L C O R P O R A T I O N I R V I N E Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal Case No. 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM BN 33789344v1 Plaintiff Whitewater West Industries, Ltd. (“Whitewater”) by and through its undersigned counsel, hereby applies for an Order allowing Plaintiffs to file under seal certain portions of Whitewater’s Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Sanctions. ECF No. 154. 1. On December 18, 2015, the Court entered the Protective Order stipulated by the parties in the matter Flowrider Surf, Ltd., et al v. Pacific Surf Designs, Inc., No. 3:15-cv-01879-BEN-BLM (the “FSL Action”). (FSL Action ECF Nos. 23, 24.) This Protective Order allows the designation as confidential of any document deemed by either party that is “a trade secret or other confidential information or research, pending trademark or patent applications, research and development or other highly-sensitive technical information, or highly sensitive business related, financial or other commercial information.” (FSL Action ECF No. 23 ¶ 5.) The purpose of the Protective Order is to prevent the public filing of certain commercially sensitive information, or the use of it outside litigation. (Id. ¶ 10). In the case of documents designated CONFIDENTIAL – FOR COUNSEL ONLY the information cannot be shared with the party itself. Id. at ¶ 11. 2. The purpose of the Protective Order will not be disturbed by applying it to this action. The litigation is between the same parties as before—by virtue of the February 1, 2016 amalgamation, Flowrider Surf, Ltd. no longer exists separate from Whitewater—no new party will have access. Likewise, counsel is the same, so the CONFIDENTIAL – FOR COUNSEL ONLY provisions will be upheld. 3. Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Roger L. Scott is a copy of an August 20, 2012 email that Defendant Pacific Surf Design, Inc. (“PSD”) produced in the FSL Action with Bates No. PSD027595 and designated as CONFIDENTIAL— FOR COUNSEL ONLY under the Protective Order. PSD claims that it contains sensitive information regarding PSD’s finances, customers and/or products, and that PSD will be placed at a competitive or economic disadvantage if such information is disclosed to other parties and/or the public at large. Case 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM Document 156 Filed 08/15/18 PageID.5629 Page 2 of 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 BUCHALTER A P R O F E S S I O N A L C O R P O R A T I O N I R V I N E 3 Plaintiff’s Motion to File Under Seal Case No. 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM BN 33789344v1 4. Defendants’ Motion references portions of documents produced by third party Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, LLP (“Knobbe”) in response to a subpoena for production of documents, which have been designated CONFIDENTIAL by Knobbe. Defendants previously moved to file these documents under seal and lodged them with the Court. ECF No. 152. Knobbe continues to assert that their documents are properly designated as CONFIDENTIAL. 5. Whitewater’s request to seal portions of its Opposition is narrowly tailored to the limited portions of its Opposition that reference the CONFIDENTIAL—FOR COUNSEL ONLY email produced by Pacific Surf Designs in the FSL Action, and information designated as CONFIDENTIAL by Knobbe. See Oregonian Pub. Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. of Oregon, 920 F.2d 1462, 1465 (9th Cir. 1990) (noting that requests to seal must be narrowly tailored). 6. For the foregoing reasons, Whitewater respectfully requests that the Court allow Whitewater to file under seal Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Roger L. Scott and portions of its Opposition to Defendants Motion for Sanctions, and to file a redacted version of the Opposition on the public docket and the unredacted version of the Opposition under seal. DATED: August 15, 2018 BUCHALTER A Professional Corporation By: /s/ Roger L. Scott________________ J. Rick Taché Roger L. Scott Erikson C. Squier Attorneys for Plaintiff Whitewater West Industries, Ltd. Case 3:17-cv-01118-BEN-BLM Document 156 Filed 08/15/18 PageID.5630 Page 3 of 3