San Jose Mercury News, Inc. v. U.S. District Court-Northern District (San Jose)

The San Jose Mercury News, Inc. (“Mercury News”) petitions for mandamus in an effort to gain access to an investigatory report commissioned by the City of Mountain View (“Mountain View”) in connection with a sexual harassment suit brought by two female police officers (“Plaintiffs”) against Mountain View and its police department (“Defendants”). In order to obtain the report, the Mercury News sought permissive intervention in the action before the district court. The district court denied the motion, prompting the newspaper’s petition for mandamus relief. We grant the writ, vacate the district court’s order denying the Mercury News’ motion to intervene, and remand for further proceedings.

I.

The relevant facts are undisputed. In early 1996, the Plaintiffs filed discrimination charges with the EEOC against the Defendants. After receiving “right to sue” letters from the EEOC, the Plaintiffs filed the underlying suits alleging, among other things, that the Mountain View Police Department maintained a work environment hostile to its female employees in violation of state and federal law.

In response to the discrimination charges, the Defendants retained an independent expert,…