From Judge John Woodcock's opinion today in Doe v. Smith (Sigmund D. Schutz and Alexandra A. Harriman of PretiFlaherty and I represent the media intervenors, and my student Timon Amirani worked on our motion):
An intervening local newspaper brings a motion to unseal the sealed court docket entries in a case in which the winner of a lottery has filed suit to enforce the provisions of a non-disclosure agreement against his former partner, the mother of their minor child….
On November 14, 2023, John Doe, acting under a pseudonym, filed a civil action in this Court against Sara Smith, another pseudonym, asserting that she breached a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and caused the Plaintiff damages. The Plaintiff also sought equitable relief, including an injunction against Ms. Smith. In the complaint, Mr. Doe alleges that he was the winner of the Maine State Lottery, that Ms. Smith is the mother of his minor daughter, and that Ms. Smith entered into a NDA to "promote the safety and security of John Doe, [herself], and their daughter" and to avoid "the irreparable harm of allowing the media or the public in general to discover, inter alia, John Doe's identity, physical location, and assets."
Mr. Doe filed several motions to seal documents filed in this case based on his view that the revelation of his name will cause him irreparable harm, and the Court has granted those motions. Since then, the Magistrate Judge has suggested that the "Plaintiff appears to be under the misimpression that this case will be conducted entirely under seal" and reminded the Plaintiff that if he wants a document sealed, he must comply with Local Rule 7A….
The court largely granted the motion to unseal (1) various motions to seal, (2) the motion to proceed pseudonymously, (3) the nondisclosure agreement, (4) a motion for sanctions, (5) the proposed amended complaint, and some related items (except for some discovery-related matters and some modest redactions of things such as the parties' names, their child's name, and other identifying information). An excerpt:
