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Rule 243.2. Procedures for filing records under seal
(a) [Court approval required] A record must not be filed under seal without a court order. The court must not permit a record to be filed under seal based solely upon the agreement or stipulation of the parties.
(b) [Motion or application to seal a record]
(1) A party requesting that a record be filed under seal must file a motion or an application for an order sealing the record. The motion or application must be accompanied by a memorandum of points and authorities and a declaration containing facts sufficient to justify the sealing.
(2) A copy of the motion or application must be served on all parties who have appeared in the case. Unless the court orders otherwise, any party that already possesses copies of the records to be placed under seal must be served with a complete, unredacted version of all papers as well as a redacted version.
(3) (A) A party who files or intends to file with the court for the purposes of adjudication or to use at trial records produced in discovery that are subject to a confidentiality agreement or protective order, and does not intend to request to have the records sealed, must:
(i) lodge the unredacted records subject to the confidentiality agreement or protective order and any pleadings, memorandums, declarations, and other documents that disclose the contents of the records, in the manner stated in (d);(ii) file copies of the documents in (i) that are redacted so that they do not disclose the contents of the records that are subject to the confidentiality agreement or protective order; and ( iii) give written notice to the party who produced the records that the records and the other documents lodged under (i) will be placed in the public court file unless that party files a timely motion or application to seal the records under this rule. (B) If the party who produced the documents and was served with the notice under (A)(iii) fails to file a motion or an application to seal the records within 10 days or to obtain a court order extending the time to file such a motion or an application, the clerk must promptly remove all the documents in (A)(i) from the envelope or container where they are located and place them in the public file. If the party files a motion or an application to seal within 10 days or such later time as the court has ordered, these documents are to remain conditionally under seal until the court rules on the motion or application and thereafter are to be filed as ordered by the court.
(4) The party requesting that a record be filed under seal must lodge it with the court under (d) when the motion or application is made, unless good cause exists for not lodging it or the record has previously been lodged under (3)(A)(i). Pending the determination of the motion or application, the lodged record will be conditionally under seal.
(5) If necessary to prevent disclosure, any motion or application, any opposition, and any supporting documents must be filed in a public redacted version and lodged in a complete version conditionally under seal.
(6) If the court denies the motion or application to seal, the clerk must return the lodged record to the submitting party and must not place it in the case file unless that party notifies the clerk in writing within 10 days after the order denying the motion or application that the record is to be filed.
(c) [References to nonpublic material in public records] A record filed publicly in the court must not disclose material contained in a record that is sealed, conditionally under seal, or subject to a pending motion or an application to seal.
(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2004.)
