(PC) Villareal v. County of Fresno
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 ELAINE K. VILLAREAL, Case No. 1:15-cv-01410-DAD-EPG (PC) 9 Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S
v. REQUEST TO SEAL (ECF No. 201) COUNTY OF FRESNO and MARGARET MIMS, Defendants. 15 In connection with her opposition to Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff filed a request to seal documents (ECF No. 201). For the reasons below, the Court will grant Plaintiff’s request. I. LEGAL STANDARDS It appears that this sealing request is governed by the compelling-reason standard.
21 Under this stringent standard, a court may seal records only when it finds a compelling reason and articulates the factual basis for its ruling, without relying on hypothesis or conjecture. The court must then conscientiously balance the competing interests of the public and the party who seeks to keep certain judicial records secret. What constitutes a “compelling reason” is best left to the sound discretion of the…