Gt, Inc. v. Superior Court

This petition challenges a protective order that prevents petitioners’ attorney from showing discovered financial information to petitioners. We conclude that (1) where good cause is shown, a trial court may prevent a party from viewing financial information even where the financial information is pertinent to the merits of the lawsuit, and (2) the order here was entered for good cause. We deny the petition.

Both sides in this dispute are Santa Cruz County publishers. Each published a direct-mail shopper for a few months during 1981. Petitioners were the first to do so. Real parties, who also publish the daily paper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, began four months later. It is alleged by petitioners that real parties (also called the Sentinel herein) drove them out of business by predatory pricing of their advertisements.

Real parties were the first to sue, filing an action for declaratory relief on April 16, 1982, seeking a declaratory judgment that they had not violated state law in pricing their advertising. Petitioners filed an antitrust complaint on September 21, 1982, alleging unfair competition, including underpricing advertising. By stipulation, the two actions were…