Savaglio

The parties to a statewide class action involving claims that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., et al., denied meal and rest breaks to thousands of employees filed volumes of records conditionally under seal without complying with the constitutionally mandated procedures embodied in California Rules of Court, mies 2.550 and 2.551. After a local newspaper entered the proceedings with a motion to unseal, and after Wal-Mart publicly filed papers and exhibits in two writ proceedings in this court that had been conditionally sealed below, the trial court entertained Wal-Mart’s belated motion to seal records under rule 2.551, granting and denying the motion in part. We conclude that Wal-Mart waived its right to file that motion and in any event the trial court lacked discretion to entertain it. We further hold that the trial court did not err in denying the newspaper organization’s request for attorney fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 (section 1021.5). Accordingly, in these consolidated appeals we reverse the order in No. A110120 to the extent it granted Wal-Mart’s motion to seal records, and affirm the order in No. All 1606 denying attorney fees to the newspaper…