Judge: Colin Leis, Case: 19STCV30239, Date: 2023-10-18 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 19STCV30239 Hearing Date: April 10, 2024 Dept: 74
The Wonderful Company, LLC v. Anthem
Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company, et al.
Defendant Lucile Packard Children’s
Hospital at Stanford’s Motion to Seal Motion for Summary Judgment and
Supporting Documents
BACKGROUND
This
action arises from a contractual dispute.
On
August 22, 2019, Plaintiff The Wonderful Company, LLC (Plaintiff) filed a
complaint against Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company and
Defendant Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford (Defendant).
On
January 17, 2020, Plaintiff filed a first amended complaint (FAC).
With
leave of the court, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint (SAC) on May 5,
2023. In the SAC, Plaintiff alleges (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of
implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (3) breach of fiduciary duty,
(4) intentional misrepresentation, (5) negligent misrepresentation, (6)
concealment, (7) violation of California Business and Professions Code section
17200, and (8) negligence.
On
January 5, 2024, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment. That same day,
Defendant filed this motion to seal the motion for summary judgment and
supporting papers.
LEGAL STANDARD
Unless confidentiality is required
by law, court records are presumed to be open to the public. (Cal. Rules of
Court, rule 2.550, subd. (c).) Consequently, pleadings, motions, evidence, and
other papers may not be filed under seal merely by stipulation of the parties;
rather, a prior court order is necessary. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.551,
subd. (a).)
To
grant such an order, the court must expressly find that . . . “an overriding
interest exists that overcomes the right of public access to the record, an
overriding interest supports sealing the records, a substantial probability
exists that the overriding interest will be prejudiced if the record is not
sealed, the proposed sealing is narrowly tailored, and no less restrictive
means exist to achieve the overriding interest.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule
2.550, subd. (d).)
If
the court fails to make the required findings, the order is deficient and
cannot support sealing. (Overstock.com, Inc. v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (2014)
231 Cal.App.4th 471, 487.)
DISCUSSION
In
support of its motion to seal, Defendant cites potentially overriding
interests. First, the proposed redactions would protect private medical
information regarding two patients’ treatment. (Grafilo v. Wolfsohn (2019)
33 Cal.App.5th 1024, 1034.) Second, the proposed redactions would protect
sensitive information about how Defendant structured and priced its medical services.
Financial information whose disclosure would cause competitive harm to a party
can be an overriding interest. (See Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Superior
Court (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 1273, 1285-1286; Whyte v. Schlage Lock Co. (2002)
101 Cal.App.4th 1443, 1455-1456.) However, the court notes that hospitals like
Defendant are required to make public a list of their charges for the items and
services they provide. (See Naranjo v. Doctors Medical Center of Modesto,
Inc. (2023) 90 Cal.App.5th 1193, 1207-1208.) Accordingly, Defendant has
agreed to leave unredacted the dollar amount charged for its services, in
addition to the number of charges. (Reply, p. 6.)
In
light of the foregoing, the court has reviewed Defendant’s papers and finds
that the following proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to protect
Defendant’s overriding interests:
Memorandum
of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment.
Private medical
information on page 1, lines 19-21.
Private
medical information on page 2, lines 9-14 and 16-20.
Private medical information on page
9, lines 16 -18, 20-26, and 28.
Private
medical information on page 10, lines 6, 8-12, 14-25, and 28.
Private
medical information on page 11, lines 1-10, 13, 14-15, 18-20, 21-23, 25- 27.
Private
medical information on page 12, lines 3, 10-12, 25-28,
Private
medical information on page 13, lines 1, 4-7, 8-10, 12-13, 16-17, 23-24.
Separate
Statement in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment
Private medical information on page 5, lines 15-16, 22, 26,
Private
medical information on page 5, line 28 to page 6, line 2.
Private
medical information on page 6, lines 3, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16, 19, 20-21, 25- 26.
Private
medical information on page 7, lines 3-4, 6-9, 10-14, 15-16, 18-22, 23-25, 26.
Private
medical information page 8, lines 3-14, 16-20, 21-22, 25-26.
Private
medical information on page 9, lines 3-8, 9, 14-18, 27-28.
Private
medical information on page 10, lines 4-19, 21, 24, 28.
Private
medical information on page 11, lines 3, 6, 9-10, 11-13, 15-17, 21-22.
Private
medical information on page 11, line 27 through page 12, line 4.
Private medical information on page
12, lines 15-17, 20-21, 23, 26
Private
medical information on page 13, lines 2-5, 6-8, 10, 13-15, 17-18, 20-22
Private
Medical Information on page 14, lines 2-3 and 7-8.
Declaration
of Shawn Tienken
Private medical information on page 4, lines 23-27.
Private
medical information on page 5, lines 2-7.
Declaration
of Kristien Karmarkar
Private medical information on page 2, lines 8, 23-28.
Private
medical information on page 3, lines 1, 3, 7, 10-14, 16-26.
Private
medical information on page 4, lines 1-13, 15-20, 22-26.
Private
medical information on page 5, lines 2-3, 6-15, 18-19, 24-28.
Private
medical information on page 6, lines 2-3, 4-10, 13-17, 21-27
Private
medical information throughout page 7.
Private
medical information throughout page 8.
Private
medical information throughout page 9.
Private
medical information throughout page 10.
Private
medical information throughout page 11.
Private
medical information throughout page 12.
Private
medical information throughout page 13.
Private
medical information on page 14, lines 2-4, 8-12.
Private
medical information throughout page 15.
Private
medical information on page 16, lines 2-8, 14, 20-23, 27-28.
Private
medical information on page 17, lines 4-5.
Commercially
sensitive business information on page 19, line 18 through page 20, line 2. The court notes
this information concerns how Defendant structured and calculated its pricing for various
services. But this portion of the declaration does not concern the prices or rates
themselves. Thus, sealing is appropriate.
Exhibit A to the Declaration of
Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit refers to records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit B to the Declaration of
Kristien Karmarkar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
C to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
D to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
E to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exihibt
F to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
G to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
H to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
I to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
J to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
K to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
L to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit refers to records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
M to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
N to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
O to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
Exhibit
P to the Declaration of Kristien Karmakar
The entire exhibit contains records concerning a patient’s
medical treatment.
However,
the court denies Defendant’s motion to seal the following portions of the
memorandum of points and authorities: the proposed redactions on pages 4-6;
page 16, lines 3-5; and page 16, lines 14-16. That is, Defendant’s cited
overriding interests do not support sealing of this information. For the same
reason, the court denies Defendant’s motion to seal the following portions of
the separate statement: page 3, lines 12-13, 18-19, 23-25; page 3, line 27
through page 4, line 2; page 4, lines 5-7, 9-10, 11-14, 16-19; page 9 lines
3-8; and page 15, lines 11-20. In addition, the court denies Defendant’s motion
to seal Exhibit A to the Declaration of Laura C. Hurtado because the proposed
sealing is not narrowly tailored: Defendant aims to seal the entirety of the
discovery responses.
CONCLUSION
The
court grants Defendant’s motion to seal in part.
Defendant
shall give notice.