Overstock.com, Inc. v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

I. Introduction

In this consolidated appeal, we address two “sealing” orders. The first granted motions by defendants to seal documents submitted in connection with plaintiffs’ efforts to file a fifth amended complaint. The second denied, in substantial part, motions by defendants to seal documents submitted in connection with defense motions for summary judgment. The second order overlapped the first, since the materials underlying the proffered amended pleading resurfaced in opposition to the summary judgment motions. Accordingly, the second sealing order is the trial court’s final call as to the propriety of sealing these discovery materials, and the parties have ultimately focused on this order, as do we.

We affirm most of the trial court’s sealing decisions. But there are key exceptions, a principal one being thousands of pages of documentation plaintiffs submitted to the court, but which they never cited and which were irrelevant to the issues raised by the summary judgment motions. Under the plain terms of the protective order in place, these irrelevant materials never should have burdened the trial court or this court. Nor should they have been subjected to…