Kimera Labs Inc. v. Jayashankar, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California denied without prejudice Defendants’ ex parte motion to file under seal a forthcoming Daubert motion and related exhibits. The court held that Defendants had not explained what substantive material warranted sealing or established good cause or compelling reasons beyond reliance on a protective-order confidentiality designation. The court directed the Clerk to strike the proposed sealed filing and extended the dispositive-motion deadline to May 9, 2025.

Holdings

1. Because a Daubert motion seeks to exclude expert testimony at trial and therefore relates more than tangentially to the merits, the compelling-reasons standard applies.
2. A blanket discovery protective order and confidentiality designation, without an explanation identifying the substantive material warranting sealing and the reasons for withholding it from public access, do not establish good cause or compelling reasons to seal judicial filings.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a forthcoming Daubert motion and its exhibits were subject to the compelling-reasons standard or the good-cause standard for sealing judicial records.
2. Whether Defendants established good cause or compelling reasons to seal the Daubert motion and exhibits merely by relying on confidentiality designations under a blanket protective order.
3. Whether the proposed sealed filing should be struck and the deadline for filing or refiling dispositive motions extended.

Disposition

other