Plaintiffs Opposition

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 28

Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 1 of 28

1 Joseph R. Saveri (admitted pro hac vice)


Joshua P. Davis (admitted pro hac vice)
2 Kevin E. Rayhill (admitted pro hac vice)
Jiamin Chen (admitted pro hac vice)
3 JOSEPH SAVERI LAW FIRM, INC.
601 California Street, Suite 1000
4 San Francisco, California 94108
Phone: (415) 500-6800
5 Fax: (415) 395-9940
[email protected]
6 [email protected]
[email protected]
7 [email protected]

8 Co-Lead Counsel for the Classes and


Attorneys for Individual and Representative Plaintiffs
9 Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis Javier Vazquez,
Brandon Vera, and Kyle Kingsbury
10
[Additional counsel listed on signature page]
11
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
12
DISTRICT OF NEVADA
13
Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Brandon Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-(PAL)
14 Vera, Luis Javier Vazquez, and Kyle
Kingsbury on behalf of themselves and all PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO
15 others similarly situated, DEFENDANT ZUFFA, LLC’S
MOTION TO SEAL
16 Plaintiffs, PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO
ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION FOR
17 vs. SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND
RELATED MATERIALS (ECF
18 Zuffa, LLC, d/b/a Ultimate Fighting NO. 602)
Championship and UFC,
19
Defendant.
20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 2 of 28

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 Page(s)

3 I.  INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 

4 II.  LEGAL STANDARD .............................................................................................2 

5 III.  ARGUMENT..........................................................................................................4 

6 A.  Zuffa’s Descriptions And Justifications for Sealing Fail to Present


Articulable Facts Showing Compelling Reasons to Seal Supported by
7 Specific Factual Findings. ............................................................................4 

8 1.  Zuffa Has Failed to Narrow Its Overbroad Discovery Confidentiality


Designations to Meet The Compelling Reasons Standard Required
9 for Judicial Records Attached to Dispositive Motions. ..................... 7 

10 B.  Zuffa Will Not Suffer Competitive Harm From Disclosure of The
Documents It Asks The Court to Seal. ........................................................8 
11
1.  Many of The Documents Do Not Contain Commercially Sensitive
12 Information ......................................................................................8 

13 2.  The Documents Contain Information That is Public Knowledge... 10 

14 3.  Many of the Documents are Too Old to Contain Trade Secrets ..... 12 

15 C.  The Interest of The Named Plaintiffs, Class Members, The Public, And
The Press in Access to The Documents Zuffa Seeks to Seal Outweighs Any
16 Purported Confidentiality Interest May Hold in Those Documents. ......... 14 

17 1.  The Strong Presumption of Public Access to Judicial Records Is


Heightened Where, As Here, The Alleged Unlawful Antitrust
18 Violations Affect The Rights of A Large Class of Victims. ............. 15 

19 D.  This Court’s Prior Orders to Seal do not Prevent An Order Unsealing
Documents ................................................................................................ 19 
20
IV.  CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................20 
21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

i Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 3 of 28

1 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

2 Cases Page(s)

3 Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., 727 F.3d 1214 (Fed. Cir. 2013) ............................................... 4

4 Bartech Int’l, Inc. v. Mobile Simple Sols., Inc., No. 2:15-cv-02422-MMD-NJK,


2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59852 (D. Nev. May 5, 2016) ........................................................ 3
5
Cen Com, Inc. v. Numerex Corp., No. C17-0560RSM, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
6 18698 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 5, 2018) .................................................................................... 13

7 City of L.A. v. Santa Monica BayKeeper, 254 F.3d 882 (9th Cir. 2001) .................................... 19

8 Collectors Coffee Inc. v. Blue Sunsets, LLC, No. 2:17-cv-01252-JCM-PAL, 2017


U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96273 (D. Nev. June 21, 2017) ............................................................... 2
9
Elec. Arts, Inc. v. United States Dist. Ct. (In re Elec. Arts, Inc.), 298 F. App’x 568
10 (9th Cir. 2008)................................................................................................................... 3

11 eMove Inc. v. SMD Software Inc., No. CV-10-02052-PHX-JRG, 2012 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 28164 (D. Ariz. Mar. 2, 2012) ........................................................................... 7, 15
12
Hodges v. Apple Inc., No. 13-cv-01128-WHO (WHO), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
13 164674 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 18, 2013) ...................................................................................... 2

14 Hunt v. VEP Healthcare, No. 16-cv-04790-VC, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139700
(N.D. Cal. Aug. 22, 2017) .................................................................................................. 3
15
In re NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litig., No. 09-cv-01967
16 CW (NC), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85375 (N.D. Cal. June 17, 2013)................................. 13

17 In re NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litig., No. C 09-1967


CW, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22233 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 20, 2014) ........................................... 6
18
Kamakana v. City & Cty. Of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006) ...................................... 2
19
Kenny v. Pac. Inv. Mgmt. Co. LLC, No. C14-1987 RSM, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
20 112788 (W.D. Wash. July 6, 2018) ................................................................................... 13

21 Marsh v. First Bank of Del., No. 11-cv-05226-WHO, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
4022 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2014) ........................................................................................... 3
22
Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini St., Inc., No. 2:10-cv-00106-LRH-PAL, 2012 U.S.
23 Dist. LEXIS 174441 (D. Nev. Dec. 6, 2012) ....................................................................... 7

24 Peralta v. Dillard, 520 F. App’x 494 (9th Cir. 2013) ............................................................... 19

25 PrimeSource Bldg. Prods. v. Huttig Bldg. Prods., No. 16 CV 11390, 2017 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 202748 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 9, 2017) ................................................................... 13
26
Saint Alphonsus Med. Ctr. - Nampa, Inc. v. Saint Luke’s Health Sys., No. 1:12-
27 CV-00560-BLW, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93985 (D. Idaho July 3, 2014)........................... 15

28 Shane Grp., Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield, 825 F.3d 299 (6th Cir. 2016) .................................... 3

ii Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 4 of 28

1 Rules 

2 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) ................................................................................................................. 8

3 Fed. R. Civ. P. 59 ................................................................................................................... 19

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

iii Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 5 of 28

1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES

2 I. INTRODUCTION

3 Plaintiffs file this brief in opposition to Zuffa LLC’s Motion to Seal Plaintiffs’

4 Opposition to Zuffa’s Motion for Summary Judgment and Related Materials (ECF No. 602)

5 (the “Motion to Seal”). As with its previous motions to seal, Zuffa has failed to provide

6 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to justify sealing the documents and

7 information Zuffa asks the Court to seal. Many of the documents simply do not contain

8 commercially sensitive information, or contain information that is public knowledge, or that is

9 too old to be commercially sensitive. And Zuffa fails to show that its alleged interest in

10 confidentiality outweighs the presumed right of access of the named Plaintiffs, the Class

11 members, the public, and the press. This transparency interest is heightened in an antitrust

12 class action such as this, where the rights and interests of a large number of UFC fighters are

13 at stake and the alleged wrongdoing should not be concealed from public scrutiny.

14 Zuffa provides four cursory descriptions of the purportedly confidential information

15 contained in the documents it seeks to seal. These two- or three-sentence descriptions are

16 meant to cover well over 1,000 individual documents or redactions. Zuffa makes no attempt to

17 show—as it must—the nature of each document to be sealed, the basis for sealing, and how

18 Zuffa will be harmed by disclosure of each document it seeks to seal. Zuffa’s blanket

19 justifications fail to satisfy the compelling reasons standard, and amount to an improper

20 attempt by Zuffa to shift the burden of determining the nature of information to be sealed and

21 the basis for sealing onto the Court and the Plaintiffs. This alone represents a legally sufficient

22 reason for denying Zuffa’s Motion to Seal.

23 Many of the documents Zuffa seeks to seal offer strong support for Plaintiffs’ claims,

24 or cast Zuffa in a negative light. Zuffa has failed to demonstrate how its interest in

25 confidentiality outweighs the vital interest of the named Plaintiffs, the Class members, the

26 public, and the press in assessing the claims, defenses, and evidence presented, which is

27 heightened in important antitrust class actions like this case. When antitrust violations are

28 alleged, as they are here, public disclosure is of particular importance to ensure improper

1 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 6 of 28

1 behavior does not escape public scrutiny, and the Federal Rules are not misused to hide illegal

2 behavior. Moreover, Zuffa continues to vie for an unfair advantage in the court of public

3 opinion by selectively asking the Court to seal information that supports Plaintiffs’ claims or

4 casts Zuffa in a negative light, while freely revealing information that it believes supports its

5 position or otherwise casts it in a positive light. Zuffa should not be able to misuse the Federal

6 Rules to conceal its anticompetitive actions.1

7 Accordingly, this Court should deny Zuffa’s Motion to Seal.

8 II. LEGAL STANDARD

9 Courts in the Ninth Circuit maintain “a strong presumption in favor of access” to

10 judicial records attached to dispositive motions, including motions for summary judgment.

11 Kamakana v. City & Cty. Of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-79 (9th Cir. 2006) (citation

12 omitted). “A party seeking to seal a judicial record . . . bears the burden of overcoming this

13 strong presumption by . . . articulat[ing] compelling reasons supported by specific factual

14 findings . . . .” Id. at 1178 (citation omitted). “A litigant is required to make a particularized

15 showing for each document it seeks to file under seal . . . .” Collectors Coffee Inc. v. Blue

16 Sunsets, LLC, No. 2:17-cv-01252-JCM-PAL, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96273, at *6, n.1 (D. Nev.

17 June 21, 2017) (“Collectors Coffee”). “An unsupported assertion of unfair advantage to

18 competitors without explaining how a competitor would use the information to obtain an

19 unfair advantage is insufficient.” Hodges v. Apple Inc., No. 13-cv-01128-WHO (WHO), 2013

20 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164674, at *4-5 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 18, 2013) (“Hodges”) (italics added)

21 (citation omitted). “The Ninth Circuit has rejected efforts to seal documents under the

22 compelling reasons standard based on conclusory statements [that] the contents of the

23 documents . . . are confidential and that, in general, their disclosure would be harmful to the

24 movant.” Bartech Int’l, Inc. v. Mobile Simple Sols., Inc., No. 2:15-cv-02422-MMD-NJK, 2016

25

26
1
Plaintiffs addressed many of these issues in their Opposition to Zuffa LLC’s Motion to Seal
27 Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify Class and Related Materials, ECF
No. 558, and in their opposition to Zuffa LLC’s Motion to Seal Zuffa LLC’s Motion for
28 Summary Judgment and Related Materials, ECF No. 581, both of which Plaintiffs hereby
incorporate into this brief as if they were fully set forth herein.
2 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 7 of 28

1 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59852, at *3 (D. Nev. May 5, 2016) (citations omitted) (“Bartech”).

2 Moreover, “in class actions—where by definition some members of the public are also

3 parties to the case—the standards for denying public access to the record should be applied

4 with particular strictness.” Shane Grp., Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield, 825 F.3d 299, 305 (6th

5 Cir. 2016) (citation omitted) (“Shane”). Accord, Marsh v. First Bank of Del., No. 11-cv-05226-

6 WHO, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4022, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2014) (“Marsh”) (“In a class

7 action, the public right of access to court documents is especially heightened.”). This is

8 especially so in antitrust cases, where “the public’s interest is focused not only on the result,

9 but also on the conduct giving rise to the case. In those cases, secrecy insulates the

10 participants, masking impropriety, obscuring incompetence, and concealing corruption.”

11 Shane, 825 F.3d at 305 (citation omitted). “[E]ven where a party can show a compelling

12 reason why certain documents or portions thereof should be sealed, the seal itself must be

13 narrowly tailored to serve that reason. The proponent of sealing therefore must analyze in

14 detail, document by document, the propriety of secrecy, providing reasons and legal citations.”

15 Id. at 305-06 (emphasis added; citation omitted). Sealing information in a class action is

16 inappropriate when doing so would “interfere with the right of class members to make an

17 informed decision about whether to object or opt out.” Hunt v. VEP Healthcare, No. 16-cv-

18 04790-VC, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139700, at *3, n.1 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 22, 2017).

19 “[C]ompelling reasons sufficient to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure and

20 justify sealing court records exist when such court files might have become a vehicle for

21 improper purposes, such as the use of records to gratify private spite, promote public scandal,

22 circulate libelous statements, or release trade secrets.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179 (citations

23 omitted). “A trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of

24 information which is used in one’s business, and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an

25 advantage over competitors who do not know or use it.” Elec. Arts, Inc. v. United States Dist.

26 Ct. (In re Elec. Arts, Inc.), 298 F. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir. 2008) (citation omitted). Parties

27 “have an interest in keeping their detailed product-specific financial information

28 secret . . . [when] they could suffer competitive harm if this information is made public.”

3 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 8 of 28

1 Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., 727 F.3d 1214, 1225 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (applying Ninth Circuit

2 law). Courts will grant a party’s motion to seal where public disclosure would “cause it

3 competitive disadvantage by permitting its competitors to exploit its trade secrets.” Bartech,

4 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59852, at *5.

5 For the reasons discussed below, Zuffa fails to satisfy the compelling reasons standard.

6 III. ARGUMENT

7 A. Zuffa’s Descriptions And Justifications for Sealing Fail to Present


Articulable Facts Showing Compelling Reasons to Seal Supported by
8 Specific Factual Findings

9 The party seeking to prevent access to judicial records must “‘articulate compelling

10 reasons supported by specific factual findings,’ providing ‘articulable facts’ that identify the

11 interests favoring secrecy and showing how those interests outweigh the presumption of

12 public access to judicial records.” Hodges, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164674, at *2-3 (quoting

13 Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1178, 1181). “In the absence of specifically articulated reasons,

14 meaningful appellate review is impossible.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1182 (citation omitted).

15 When a party merely “identifies the redactions it seeks by page number and line number,

16 [without] provid[ing] similarly specific compelling reasons to justify these redactions,” it fails

17 to satisfy the compelling reasons standard. Id. at 1183-84. “Simply mentioning a general

18 category of privilege, without any further elaboration or any specific linkage with the

19 documents, does not satisfy the burden.” Id. at 1184 (holding that a party’s attempt “to

20 justify each redaction by listing one of four general categories of privilege” was insufficient).

21 Here, Zuffa does exactly that. Zuffa asks the Court to seal well over 1,000 individual

22 redactions or exhibits based solely on four extremely broad categorical descriptions of the

23 types of information Zuffa seeks to seal, contained in two tables. Table A refers to “Exhibits

24 Zuffa Seeks to File under Seal,” and contains four sub-categories. Each sub-category includes

25 a cursory one- or two-sentence description of the purported grounds for sealing, to be applied

26 to tens or even hundreds of individual redactions or requests to seal within that category.

27 Beyond this brief overarching description, there is no further information about the nature

28 (e.g., contract, email, financial report, etc.) or content (e.g., contract negotiation, notice of

4 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 9 of 28

1 injury extension, internal assessment of rival promoter’s fighters, etc.) of each document

2 Zuffa seeks to seal. The categories include documents or portions thereof purportedly

3 containing highly confidential or trade secret information regarding:

4  Zuffa’s contractual clauses and internal policies relating thereto, Motion to


5 Seal, p. 2 (the “Contracts” sub-category) (contains 114 individual redactions

6 or sealed documents);

7  event-level financial information or internal valuation or analysis, id., p. 3 (the


8 “Financial Information” sub-category) (contains 73 individual redactions or

9 sealed documents);

10  business information and internal strategy information, id., p. 4 (the


11 “Strategy” sub-category) (contains 236 individual redactions or sealed

12 documents); and,

13  third-party information, id., p. 6 (the “Third Party” sub-category) (contains 99


14 individual redactions or sealed documents).2
15 Zuffa fails to describe each document or redaction in a way that demonstrates that the

16 information contained therein is confidential, and it fails to show how it would be harmed by

17 disclosure of the information. Zuffa’s overbroad, non-specific categorizations fail to satisfy the

18 compelling reasons standard.

19 Table B, which refers to “Expert Reports Zuffa Seeks to File under Seal,” contains

20 only generalized references to the four sub-categories listed in Table A. For example, Zuffa’s

21 purported justification for sealing extensive portions of the Expert Report of Hal J. Singer,

22

23 2
Plaintiffs do not oppose sealing documents provided by third party MMA promoters or
24 boxing promoters where those third parties have designated the materials in question as
Confidential or Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only. However, Plaintiffs do oppose
25 sealing documents produced by third party financial institutions or other third parties that
were retained by Zuffa for business purposes. Plaintiffs also do not oppose redacting fighter
26 names and Personally Identifying Information, or references to fighters’ medical conditions or
injuries. But the burden is on Zuffa to narrowly tailor its redactions to cover only these items.
27 Overbroad redactions that sweep up non-commercially sensitive statements and information,
particularly when those statements support Plaintiffs claims or cast a negative light on Zuffa’s
28 actions, are not narrowly tailored and do not satisfy the compelling reasons standard.

5 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 10 of 28

1 Ph.D. states:

2 The report contains highly confidential information regarding Zuffa’s athlete


contracts and strategies, event-level financial and other information, trade
3 secret strategy information, and third-party confidential information. Release
of this information is likely to cause Zuffa and third parties significant
4 competitive harm. The Court previously granted Zuffa’s motion to seal this
report (ECF No. 533).
5

6 Motion to Seal, p. 7. The Singer Report contains 364 individual redactions, covering a very

7 wide range of references.3 Zuffa applies this cursory justification to Dr. Singer’s opening

8 report in its entirety, and provides similarly deficient descriptions of the other eight expert

9 reports it asks the Court to redact. These perfunctory justifications fail to satisfy the

10 compelling reasons standard.

11 Zuffa has not even attempted to make a particularized showing with respect to each

12 document it asks the Court to seal or redact. It simply provides the Court with a laundry list

13 of documents to seal, lumped together in extremely broad categories. By failing to specify

14 what information is revealed in each document and how its disclosure would cause

15 competitive harm to Zuffa, Zuffa impermissibly attempts to shift the burden to Plaintiffs—

16 and the Court—to identify what commercially sensitive information (if any) would be

17 revealed and how it could cause competitive harm to Zuffa. The burden is on Zuffa to show

18 that each document contains trade secret information. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179. For

19 this independently sufficient reason, Zuffa fails to meet the compelling reasons standard.

20 Courts in the Ninth Circuit routinely deny motions to seal on this basis. For example,

21 in In re NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litig., No. C 09-1967 CW, 2014 U.S.

22 Dist. LEXIS 22233, at *20 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 20, 2014) (“NCAA”), the court denied a motion

23 to seal an expert report because the report contained only “non-specific descriptions of

24 [defendants’] business practices, references to non-sealable portions of opposing experts’

25 analyses, and vague estimates of some schools’ football- and basketball-related revenue from

26 certain years.” The court held that “[n]either Defendants nor the third parties have

27
3
28 See generally, Opposition Exhibit 1.

6 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 11 of 28

1 adequately explained how they would be harmed by the disclosure of this information.”4

2 1. Zuffa Has Failed to Narrow Its Overbroad Discovery


Confidentiality Designations to Meet The Compelling Reasons
3 Standard Required for Judicial Records Attached to Dispositive
Motions.
4
Because Zuffa’s Motion to Seal relates to Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Zuffa’s Motion for
5
Summary Judgment, the documents Zuffa seeks to seal were originally filed—and redacted—
6
by Plaintiffs. These provisional redactions and requests to seal were based on the
7
confidentiality designations assigned by Zuffa and third parties during discovery, pursuant to
8
the Protective Order, under which the parties are generally permitted to designate broadly in
9
order to facilitate the production of documents and information.5 Plaintiffs did not challenge
10
Zuffa confidentiality designations at that time, reserving their right to do so at a later time, as
11
permitted under Section 6.1 of the Revised Stipulation and Protective Order, signed by the
12
Court on February 10, 2016 (the “Protective Order”).6 Out of an abundance of caution,
13
Plaintiffs made their provisional requests to redact or seal broadly inclusive.
14
Zuffa now asks the Court to seal documents attached to a dispositive motion, which
15

16
4
17 See also eMove Inc. v. SMD Software Inc., No. CV-10-02052-PHX-JRG, 2012 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 28164 (D. Ariz. Mar. 2, 2012), in which the court denied a motion to seal an expert
18 report in its entirety, even though the report contained “profit and loss information [that] is
sensitive and may constitute trade secrets.” Id. at *8. The court held that the moving party
19 did not “adequately explain how this information provides it with a competitive advantage.”
In addition, the court held that “the expert report is central to the cause of action because it
20 purports to calculate the damages incurred by [the plaintiff ] as a result of the defendants’
allegedly unlawful acts [so] the need for public access is at its peak.” Id.
21 Stipulated protective orders such as the one issued in this case, which “allow[] part[ies] or
5
non-part[ies] producing or disclosing documents to designate discovery materials as
22 confidential or highly confidential without court intervention,” are “routine in federal
discovery practice and facilitate the parties’ exchanges without expensive and time consuming
23 motion practice.” Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini St., Inc., No. 2:10-cv-00106-LRH-PAL, 2012
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174441, at *27-30 (D. Nev. Dec. 6, 2012).
24 6
See Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to Lodge Materials Under Seal, ECF No. 598, p. 1 (“The
25 documents referenced below (or portions thereof ) have been designated or refer to materials
which have been designated Confidential or Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only by
26 Defendant or third parties. Plaintiffs take no position at this time regarding whether these
designations are merited and—pursuant to Section 6.1 of the Protective Order—reserve the
27 right to challenge Zuffa’s or third parties’ confidentiality designations at any time.
Accordingly, and solely on the basis of Zuffa’s and third parties’ confidentiality designations,
28 Plaintiffs seek leave to lodge the following documents under seal.”).

7 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 12 of 28

1 are subject to the more stringent “compelling reasons” standard. Yet Zuffa has done almost

2 nothing to narrow the requests to seal, essentially just passing them along to the Court with

3 vague assurances that there are compelling reasons to seal.7

4 Zuffa has failed to carry its burden under the compelling reasons standard. “Unlike

5 private materials unearthed during discovery, judicial records are public documents almost by

6 definition, and the public is entitled to access by default. This fact sharply tips the balance in

7 favor of production when a document, formerly sealed for good cause under Rule 26(c),

8 becomes part of a judicial record.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180 (citation omitted).

9 B. Zuffa Will Not Suffer Competitive Harm From Disclosure of The


Documents It Asks The Court to Seal
10
1. Many of The Documents Do Not Contain Commercially Sensitive
11 Information.

12 Many of the materials Zuffa asks the Court to seal simply do not contain confidential

13 information. For example, Zuffa asks the Court to seal Exhibit 67 to the Declaration of Eric L.

14 Cramer in Support of Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Zuffa, LLC’s Motion for Summary Judgment,

15 (ECF No. 596-69),8 which contains excerpts from a draft of a “confidential information

16 memorandum” produced for Strikeforce on or around March 15, 2010 (Strikeforce was

17 acquired by Zuffa approximately one year later, in early 2011). Zuffa asks the Court to seal this

18 document because it “describ[es] or provid[es] detailed information on trade secret business

19 information and highly sensitive internal strategy information,” but the only strategy

20 described is Strikeforce’s strategy to strengthen its position as “the world’s second most

21 prominent promotion.” Strikeforce was acquired by Zuffa in 2011 and ceased to exist in 2013.

22 The UFC is mentioned only in passing, and no UFC strategy is discussed.

23

24 7
While Zuffa did reduce or remove the redactions on 25 documents it filed with its Motion to
Seal, it offers nothing more than the insufficient blanket justifications described above for the
25 redactions in those documents. Because Zuffa has failed to provide compelling reasons for
sealing the redactions in those 25 documents (other than those relating to Personally
26 Identifiable Information), the redactions should be removed. See Exhibit 1 to Declaration of
Kevin E. Rayhill, pp. 61-62, for descriptions of these redactions and the reasons they should
27 be denied.
8
28 For simplicity, Plaintiffs will use the shorthand “Opposition Exhibit XX” or “Opp. Exh.” to
refer to exhibits filed with their Opposition.
8 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 13 of 28
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 14 of 28

1 contain commercially sensitive information. For example, Zuffa asks the Court to seal

2 paragraph 36 of the Rebuttal Expert Report of Hal J. Singer, Ph.D. (“SR2”), which describes

3 the multivariate regression models contained in SR1. None of Zuffa’s contractual terms,

4 financial information, or strategy is discussed in this paragraph. The paragraph concludes as

5 follows:

8 Nothing in

9 this conclusion would confer a competitive advantage on another MMA promoter if it were

10 disclosed.

11 Additional examples of documents or redactions that do not contain commercially

12 sensitive information are described in Exhibit 1 to Declaration of Kevin E. Rayhill (the

13 “Rayhill Declaration”), entitled “Zuffa’s Sealed Document – Plaintiffs’ Arguments

14 Against.”

15 2. The Documents Contain Information That is Public Knowledge.

16 By definition, information that is available from public sources is not confidential. Yet

17 Zuffa repeatedly asks this Court to seal information that is already in the public domain. For

18 example, it is public knowledge that all UFC fighters must sign a Promotional and Ancillary

19 Rights Agreement (“PAR”).9 Indeed, Zuffa has stated so in its Fighter Conduct

20 Policy, which is publicly available on their website.10 Yet Zuffa asks the Court to seal several

21
9
See Rayhill Decl., Exh. 2, Adam Swift, “Inside the Standard Zuffa Contract,” Sherdog.com,
22 Oct. 31, 2007, available at http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/Inside-the-Standard-
Zuffa-Contract-9734 (includes complete listing of all contract terms in a PAR, “the contract
23 every fighter has to sign to gain entry to the UFC”, including the Retirement Clause, the
Champion’s Clause, tolling provisions, the right to match period, and the exclusive
24 negotiating period, among other contract provisions). See also Rayhill Decl., Exh. 3. Jonathan
Snowden, “The Business of Fighting: A Look Inside the UFC’s Top-Secret Fighter
25 Contract,” Bleacher Report, May 14, 2013, available at
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1516575-the-business-of-fighting-a-look-inside-the-ufcs-
26 top-secret-fighter-contract#slide8. See n.4, supra (including a complete listing of all contract
terms in a PAR, “the contract every fighter has to sign to gain entry to the UFC”).
27 10
See, e.g., Rayhill, Decl., Exh. 10, “UFC Fighter Conduct Policy,”ufc.com, available at
28 http://media.ufc.tv/conduct/UFC_Fighter_Code_of_Conduct.pdf (“As provided in the

10 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 15 of 28
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 16 of 28

1 to Bellator and we signed it” in an effort to match an offer from UFC for a Bellator fighter.13

2 These statements are further proof that Zuffa’s contract terms are public knowledge: other

3 MMA promoters clearly knew about them, and copied them in their own contracts. Zuffa’s

4 contract terms are public knowledge, and since other MMA promoters already freely admit

5 that they base their own contracts on Zuffa’s contractual terms, Zuffa would not be harmed by

6 disclosure of these terms.

7 Zuffa seeks to seal Opposition Exhibits 100 & 101, both of which contain excerpts

8 from a 2007 “Confidential Information Memorandum” prepared by Deutsche Bank with

9 Zuffa’s active participation, and Opposition Exhibit 96, which contains excerpts from a 2013

10 “Confidential Information Memorandum” prepared by Deutsche Bank. But Bloody Elbow

11 reporter John Nash has written extensively about data he gleaned from copies of these

12 memoranda.14 And in a recent article about Plaintiffs’ Opposition filing, Mr. Nash noted that

13 the 2007 Memorandum “is available to several members of the media, including myself.”15

14 Mr. Nash also noted that many of the redactions in Plaintiffs’ Opposition filings “fail because

15 the quoted material is available elsewhere in the filings.”

16 More examples of requests to seal or redact public information are described in

17 Exhibit 1 to the Rayhill Declaration.

18 3. Many of the Documents are Too Old to Contain Trade Secrets.

19 Zuffa asks the Court to seal many documents that contain information that is too old

20

21
13
22 See, Rayhill Decl., Exh. 4, Brian Hemminger, “Bjorn Rebney Explains 'Key
Misunderstanding' in UFC Contract Match for Eddie Alvarez,” mmamania.com, Jan. 9,
23 2013, available at https://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/9/3853442/bjorn-rebney-lawsuit-
eddie-alvarez-bellator-mma-ufc-contract-match.
24 14 See, Rayhill Decl., Exh. 5, John S. Nash, “What Investors Are Being Told About UFC
Revenues,” BloodyElbow.com, Oct. 20, 2015, available at
25 https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10/20/9547333/what-deutsche-bank-moodys-and-
standard-poors-tell-us-about-the-ufc.
26 15
John S. Nash, Lawsuit: Plaintiffs claim UFC became ‘major leagues’ of MMA through
27 ‘restrictive contracts’ and ‘buying out rivals’, BloodyElbow.com, Sept. 26, 2018, available for
download at https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/9/26/17897070/lawsuit-plaintiffs-claim-
28 ufc-became-major-leagues-restrictive-contracts-buying-out-rivals-mma-zuffa.

12 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 17 of 28

1 to qualify as commercially sensitive information.16 For example, Zuffa asks the Court to seal

2 Opposition Exhibit 91, which is a January 3, 2011 email from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to

3 Dana White and other Zuffa executives containing a list of post-fight bonuses and a list of

4 fighters Zuffa had planned to cut. The email also states

5 Given that the average MMA fighter’s

6 career lasts less than three years, this information from 2011 is far too old to hold any

7 competitive value.

8 There are also a series of memoranda prepared by Deutsche Bank in 2007, 2009, and

9 2013 (Opp. Exhs. 100, 86, and 96, respectively), as well as other Deutsche Bank presentations

10 and other documents from the same time frame (Opp. Exh. 99 is a Deutsche Bank lender’s

11 presentation from May 23, 2007), that are too old to contain any commercially sensitive

12 information.

13 Similarly, Opposition Exhibit 76 is an August 2, 2013 email from Tracy Long to Joe

14 Silva regarding

15

16

17

18

19
16
20 See Kenny v. Pac. Inv. Mgmt. Co. LLC, No. C14-1987 RSM, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112788,
at *8-9 (W.D. Wash. July 6, 2018) (denying motion to seal agreements and negotiations
21 between defendant and clients, and client fees, as well as “more granular proprietary
information, such as profitability figures,” because the documents were “relevant to [the]
22 case” and because the information was 4-5 years old and therefore “stale and no longer likely
to offer a competitive advantage to [defendant’s] competitors”); Cen Com, Inc. v. Numerex
23 Corp., No. C17-0560RSM, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18698, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 5, 2018)
(denying without prejudice motion to seal where defendants had failed to show that 18-
24 months old information was “not so stale as to no longer be commercially useful or
harmful”); In re NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litig., No. 09-cv-01967
25 CW (NC), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85375, at *12 (N.D. Cal. June 17, 2013) (denying motion to
seal where document was eight years old, and the defendant “fail[ed] to articulate what
26 specific harm an outdated document will have on its current or future operations”);
PrimeSource Bldg. Prods. v. Huttig Bldg. Prods., No. 16 CV 11390, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
27 202748, at *47 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 9, 2017) (holding that two-year-old vendor pricing information
was not a trade secret because pricing had changed in the interim: “Information that is too old
28 to hold any value loses any protection it would otherwise be entitled to as a trade secret”).

13 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 18 of 28

1 .17 UFC 166 was held on October 19, 2013, and has fought in eight UFC
2 bouts since then. The information in this email has been obsolete for several years.

3 Opposition Exhibit 123 is a January 27, 2008 email from a fighter agent to Joe Silva.

4 The agent proposes a change to a term of a bout agreement and states,

8 The email is over ten years

9 old—far too old to hold any competitive value.

10 There are many more examples of documents Zuffa would withhold from public

11 disclosure that do not contain trade secrets. See Rayhill Decl., Exh. 1. None of the documents

12 Zuffa asks the Court to seal contains trade secrets. The documents either lack information

13 that could plausibly be characterized as commercially sensitive information, or contain

14 information that is already public knowledge, or that is too old to hold any competitive value.

15 For these reasons, the motion to seal should be denied.

16 C. The Interest of The Named Plaintiffs, Class Members, The Public, And
The Press in Access to The Documents Zuffa Seeks to Seal Outweighs
17 Any Purported Confidentiality Interest Zuffa May Hold in Those
Documents
18
A party seeking to seal judicial records filed with a dispositive motion must “present
19
articulable facts identifying the interests favoring continued secrecy and [] show that these
20

21
17
Zuffa’s fighter compensation is public knowledge. Purse information for nearly half of
22 Zuffa’s MMA events since 2001 (182 of 420 total events) is available online from a number of
websites, including Wikipedia and Bloody Elbow. See, e.g., Rayhill Decl., ¶ 13. Moreover,
23 Zuffa has announced fighter purse information when it suited its purposes to do so. See, e.g.,
Rayhill Decl., Exh. 6, Adam Guillen Jr. , “Dana White: Rampage Jackson Has Made $15.2
24 million in Career Earnings Fighting for UFC,” January 24, 2013, mmamania.com, available at
https://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/24/3913294/dana-white-rampage-jackson-career-
25 earnings-ufc-millions (Dana White says UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, “since
2007, has made, from 2007 to 2012, $15.2 million in the UFC”); Rayhill Decl., Exh 7, Ken
26 Pishna and Jeff Cain, “UFC Disputes Couture’s Claims About His Pay,” MMA Weekly.
October 30, 2007, available at https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufc-disputes-coutures-claims-
27 about-his-pay-2 (“the UFC indicated that Couture’s pay for the Sylvia fight totaled $1.186
million and $1.072 million for the Gonzaga fight”). Finally, should the Court find that fighter
28 compensation should be sealed, Zuffa has not shown why it could not limit its redactions to
the compensation numbers themselves.
14 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 19 of 28

1 specific interests overc[o]me the presumption of access by outweighing the public interest in

2 understanding the judicial process.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1181 (citations omitted). Courts

3 in the Ninth Circuit routinely deny requests to seal when the moving party fails to show that

4 the interest in sealing outweighs the interest of the named Plaintiffs, Class members, the

5 public, and the press in access. For example, the court in Saint Alphonsus Med. Ctr. - Nampa,

6 Inc. v. Saint Luke’s Health Sys., No. 1:12-CV-00560-BLW, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93985 (D.

7 Idaho July 3, 2014), denied a motion to seal expert testimony despite finding that the

8 testimony “reveals actual financial data such as revenue and overhead” and contains

9 “sensitive business information that could be damaging if revealed.” Id. at *13. The court

10 held that because the expert testimony was “crucial to the public’s understanding” of the

11 defendant’s argument, there were no compelling reasons to seal the expert testimony. Id.

12 Similarly, in eMove, the court denied a motion to seal an expert report in its entirety, even

13 though the report contained “profit and loss information [that] is sensitive and may constitute

14 trade secrets.” 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28164, at *8. The court held that the moving party did

15 not “adequately explain how this information provides it with a competitive advantage.” In

16 addition, the court held that “the expert report is central to the cause of action because it

17 purports to calculate the damages incurred by [the plaintiff ] as a result of the defendants’

18 allegedly unlawful acts [so] the need for public access is at its peak.” Id.

19 Here, Zuffa has made no attempt to show that its purported interest in sealing the

20 documents outweighs the interest of the named Plaintiffs, the Class members, the public, and

21 the press in disclosure.

22 1. The Strong Presumption of Public Access to Judicial Records Is


Heightened Where, As Here, The Alleged Unlawful Antitrust
23 Violations Affect The Rights of A Large Class of Victims.

24 “In a class action, the public right of access to court documents is especially

25 heightened.” Marsh, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4022, at *4. Public access is of even greater

26 importance in antitrust actions, where “the public’s interest is focused not only on the result,

27 but also on the conduct giving rise to the case. In those cases, secrecy insulates the

28 participants, masking impropriety, obscuring incompetence, and concealing corruption.”

15 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 20 of 28

1 Shane, 825 F.3d at 305 (citation omitted). Here, both conditions apply. Zuffa has not shown

2 that its interest in confidentiality outweighs the public’s interest in transparency.

3 Many of the documents Zuffa asks this Court to seal support Plaintiffs’ claims in this

4 litigation, and expose not just Zuffa’s anticompetitive actions, but the intent behind those

5 actions. For example, Opposition Exhibit 83 is a January 31, 2007 email from Zuffa’s outside

6 counsel Thomas Paschall to Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and other Zuffa executives,18 in

7 which Mr. Paschal states

10

11

12 Similarly, Opposition Exhibit 62 (discussed supra at section III.B.1, p. 9), a July 25,

13 2009 email from Michael Mersch regarding Affliction Entertainment’s agreement to cease

14 promoting live MMA events, states,

15

16

17 These documents directly support one of Plaintiffs’ primary points: that Zuffa

18 unlawfully acquired and maintained monopoly and monopsony power in part by buying its

19 closest potential competitors, thereby removing potential rivals from the market and

20 enhancing its own position by absorbing the other promoter’s fighters into the UFC. Zuffa has

21 not shown and cannot show a valid legal basis for sealing this document. Rather, Zuffa is

22 asking the Court to seal these documents because they strongly support Plaintiffs’ claims and

23 cast Zuffa in a negative light. The interest of the named Plaintiffs, the Class members, the

24 public, and the press in disclosure far outweighs any purported interest in confidentiality held

25 by Zuffa.

26 In another example, UFC/WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby, in a July 2, 2009 email to

27
18
28 Portions of this email were ordered redacted by Magistrate Leen on attorney-client privilege
grounds. The rest of the document, including the portion cited here, were held not privileged.
16 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 21 of 28
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 22 of 28

2 19
But Opposition Exhibit 133 shows that Zuffa used the
3

9 These documents and others like them support Plaintiffs’ point that Zuffa’s

10 contractual terms serve to lock top MMA fighters into long-term exclusive contracts that

11 prevent the fighters from seeking their true value on the open market and prevent other

12 MMA promoters from competing for UFC fighters’ services.

13 Naturally, these are documents that Zuffa would prefer to keep hidden behind the

14 cloak of confidentiality. But Zuffa has provided no justification for sealing the documents.

15 And “[t]he mere fact that the production of records may lead to a litigant’s embarrassment,

16 incrimination, or exposure to further litigation will not, without more, compel the court to

17 seal its records.” Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1179 (citation omitted). Conversely, the interest of

18 the named Plaintiffs, Class members, the public, and the press in assessing whether Zuffa

19 has—as Plaintiffs allege—used anticompetitive means to, among other things, lock its fighters

20 into long-term exclusive contracts that prevent other MMA promoters from effectively

21 competing for the fighters’ services, is particularly strong in an antitrust class action such as

22 this. Zuffa should not be allowed to control the Plaintiffs’ and the public’s access to these

23 important documents based on its desire to conceal negative evidence, especially when it has

24 failed to articulate compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings for doing so.

25 These documents and many others cast a bright light on Zuffa’s anticompetitive

26 actions. Given the heightened interest of the named Plaintiffs, the Class members, the public,

27

28
19
See n.9, supra.
18 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 23 of 28

1 and the press in access to these materials, and Zuffa’s failure to demonstrate that they have a

2 confidentiality interest that outweighs the presumption of public access, Zuffa’s Motion to

3 Seal should be denied.

4 D. This Court’s Prior Orders to Seal do not Prevent An Order Unsealing


Documents
5
Zuffa also points out that many of the expert reports Zuffa asks the Court to seal were
6
previously ordered sealed by this Court in its March 29, 2018 Minute Order (ECF No. 533).
7
Motion to Seal, ¶¶ 7-8. But the Court is not bound by its prior order.
8
Here, Plaintiffs show, based on a more fully developed record, that Zuffa has failed to
9
satisfy its burden regarding sealing.
10
The new arguments and evidence Plaintiffs have provided to the Court were not
11
presented to the Court in advance of the prior orders. A district court has “plenary power”
12
over its interlocutory decisions, and “this power to reconsider, revise, alter or amend the
13
interlocutory order is not subject to the limitations of Rule 59.” City of L.A. v. Santa Monica
14
BayKeeper, 254 F.3d 882, 885 (9th Cir. 2001) (citation omitted). This is especially true where
15
evidence presented at a later stage goes beyond what was presented in support of or
16
opposition to the earlier motion. See Peralta v. Dillard, 520 F. App’x 494, 495 (9th Cir. 2013)
17
(upholding district court’s granting of motion for judgment as a matter of law after it had
18
denied a motion for summary judgment, where the evidence presented at trial “went
19
beyond” evidence presented at summary judgment); In re Dental Supplies Antitrust Litigation,
20
No. 2:15-cv-05440-BMC-GRB, Minute Order Denying Motion to Seal Courtroom, (E.D.N.Y.
21
Aug. 10, 2018) (denying defendant’s motion to seal courtroom for Daubert hearing because
22
plaintiffs had not explained why the parties would need to discuss confidential third party
23
data, so request to seal was not narrowly tailored).
24
For these reasons, the Court’s prior orders sealing some documents do not affect the
25
Court’s ability to deny Zuffa’s Motion to Seal here.
26

27

28

19 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 24 of 28

1 IV. CONCLUSION

2 For the reasons stated above, this Court should deny Zuffa’s Motion to Seal, with the

3 exception of testimony or documents from third parties which Plaintiffs do not challenge.

6 Dated: October 17, 2018 Respectfully Submitted,


JOSEPH SAVERI LAW FIRM, INC.
7

8 By: /s/Kevin E. Rayhill


Kevin E. Rayhill
9
Joseph R. Saveri (admitted pro hac vice)
10 Joshua P. Davis (admitted pro hac vice)
Kevin E. Rayhill (admitted pro hac vice)
11 Jiamin Chen (admitted pro hac vice)
601 California Street, Suite 1000
12 San Francisco, California 94108
Phone: (415) 500-6800/Fax: (415) 395-9940
13 [email protected]
[email protected]
14 [email protected]
[email protected]
15
Co-Lead Counsel for the Classes and Attorneys
16 for Individual and Representative Plaintiffs Cung
Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis Javier
17 Vazquez, Brandon Vera, and Kyle Kingsbury
18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

20 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 25 of 28

1 COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL,


PLLC
2 Benjamin D. Brown (admitted pro hac vice)
Richard A. Koffman (admitted pro hac vice)
3 Daniel H. Silverman (admitted pro hac vice)
1100 New York Ave., N.W., Suite 500, East
4 Tower Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 408-4600/Fax: (202) 408 4699
5 [email protected]
[email protected]
6 [email protected]

7 Co-Lead Counsel for the Classes and Attorneys


for Individual and Representative Plaintiffs
8 Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis
Javier Vazquez, Brandon Vera, and Kyle
9 Kingsbury

10 BERGER MONTAGUE PC
Eric L. Cramer (admitted pro hac vice)
11 Michael Dell’Angelo (admitted pro hac vice)
Patrick Madden (admitted pro hac vice)
12 Mark R. Suter (admitted pro hac vice)
1818 Market Street, Suite 3600
13 Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: (215) 875-3000/Fax: (215) 875-4604
14 [email protected]
[email protected]
15 [email protected]
[email protected]
16
Co-Lead Counsel for the Classes and Attorneys
17 for Individual and Representative Plaintiffs
Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis
18 Javier Vazquez, Brandon Vera, and Kyle
Kingsbury
19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

21 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 26 of 28

1 WOLF, RIFKIN, SHAPIRO,


SCHULMAN & RABKIN, LLP
2 Don Springmeyer
Nevada Bar No. 1021
3 Bradley S. Schrager
Nevada Bar No. 10217
4 Justin C. Jones
Nevada Bar No. 8519
5 3556 E. Russell Road, Second Floor
Las Vegas, Nevada 89120
6 (702) 341-5200/Fax: (702) 341-5300
[email protected]
7 [email protected]
[email protected]
8
Liaison Counsel for the Classes and Attorneys
9 for Individual and Representative Plaintiffs
Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis
10 Javier Vazquez, Brandon Vera, and Kyle
Kingsbury
11
WARNER ANGLE HALLAM JACKSON &
12 FORMANEK PLC
Robert C. Maysey (admitted pro hac vice)
13 Jerome K. Elwell (admitted pro hac vice)
2555 E. Camelback Road, Suite 800
14 Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone: (602) 264-7101/Fax: (602) 234-0419
15 [email protected]
[email protected]
16
Counsel for the Classes and Attorneys for
17 Individual and Representative Plaintiffs Cung
Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis Javier
18 Vazquez, Brandon Vera, and Kyle Kingsbury

19 LAW OFFICE OF FREDERICK S.


SCHWARTZ
20 Frederick S. Schwartz (admitted pro hac vice)
15303 Ventura Boulevard, #1040
21 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Phone: (818) 986-2407/Fax: (818) 995-4124
22 [email protected]

23 Attorney for Plaintiffs

24

25

26

27

28

22 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 27 of 28

1 SPECTOR ROSEMAN KODROFF &


WILLIS, P.C.
2 Jeffrey J. Corrigan (admitted pro hac vice)
William G. Caldes (admitted pro hac vice)
3 1818 Market Street – Suite 2500
Philadelphia, PA 19103
4 Phone: (215) 496-0300/Fax: (215) 496-6611
[email protected]
5 [email protected]

6 Attorneys for Plaintiffs

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

23 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)
Case 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-PAL Document 604 Filed 10/17/18 Page 28 of 28

1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

2 I hereby certify that on this 17th day of October, 2018, true and correct copies of the

3 following document was served via the District of Nevada’s ECF system to all counsel of

4 record who have enrolled in the ECF system:

5  PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION


6 TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION FOR

7 SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602).

10 By:
/s/ Kevin E. Rayhill
11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

24 Case No.: 2:15-cv-01045 RFB-(PAL)


PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA, LLC’S MOTION TO SEAL PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ZUFFA,
LLC’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS (ECF NO. 602)

You might also like