From Doe v. Oeser (E.D. Pa.), decided last month by Judge Joshua Wolson (E.D. Pa.):
Ms. Doe's Complaint alleges that on November 8, 2021, Defendant Michael Oeser stalked, harassed, and sexually assaulted her while they attended a work-related conference at a Marriott hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Specifically, Ms. Doe alleges that while he was intoxicated, Mr. Oeser made "racially disparaging offers of employment" to Ms. Doe to work as a babysitter for his children and that he sexually assaulted her by "forcibly and inappropriately smack[ing] [her] buttocks …." All of her claims stem from this incident.
Necessarily, then, this lawsuit will involve details surrounding the alleged sexual assault and Ms. Doe's resulting injuries. Given the nature of her claims, Ms. Doe wants to maintain her privacy, but her preference for privacy is not a sufficient reason to permit her to litigate this case using a pseudonym.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a) requires all parties to be named in the case caption. This rule "illustrates 'the principle that judicial proceedings, civil as well as criminal, are to be conducted in public.'" Indeed, "[t]he people have a right to know who is using their courts." Thus, a party will be permitted to proceed on an anonymous basis only in "exceptional cases." The potential for embarrassment is not sufficient. Instead, to proceed using a pseudonym, the movant "must show 'both (1) a fear of severe harm, and (2) that the fear of severe harm is reasonable.'" Once the party makes that showing, the Court must consider a variety of factors to determine whether that party's reasonable fear of severe harm outweighs "the public's strong interest in an open litigation process." The Court need not consider those factors at this time, however, because Ms. Doe has not made the requisite showing of a reasonable fear of severe harm.
