Steele v. City of Burlington

• Decision Date: 14 August 2018
• Docket Number: No. 3:16-cv-00105 – JEG,3:16-cv-00105 – JEG
• Citation: 334 F.Supp.3d 972
• Parties: Gabriel STEELE, Individually, as Executor of the Estate of Autumn Steele, and as Next of Friend for His Minor Child G.S.; Sean Schoff, as Next of Friend for His Minor Child K.S.; and Gina Colbert, Individually, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF BURLINGTON, IOWA, and Jesse Hill, Defendants. Randy Evans, and Iowa Freedom of Information Council, Movants-Intervenors.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa

334 F.Supp.3d 972

Gabriel STEELE, Individually, as Executor of the Estate of Autumn Steele, and as Next of Friend for His Minor Child G.S.; Sean Schoff, as Next of Friend for His Minor Child K.S.; and Gina Colbert, Individually, Plaintiffs,

v.CITY OF BURLINGTON, IOWA, and Jesse Hill, Defendants.

Randy Evans, and Iowa Freedom of Information Council, Movants-Intervenors.

No. 3:16-cv-00105 – JEG

United States District Court, S.D. Iowa, Davenport Division.

Signed August 14, 2018

David A. OBrien, Dave Obrien LAW, Cedar Rapids, IA, Adam J. Klein, Pro Hac Vice, Law Offices of Adam J. Klein, Atlanta, GA, John Mark Shelnutt, Pro Hac Vice, The Law Office of J. Mark Shelnutt, Columbus, GA, Trent A. Henkelvig, Henkelvig Law, Danville, IA, for Plaintiffs.

Martha L. Shaff, Brandon Wayne Lobberecht, Betty Neuman & McMahon PLC, Davenport, IA, for Defendants.

Michael A. Giudicessi, Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP, Des Moines, IA, Mary Andreleita Walker, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Minneapolis, MN, for Movants-Intervenors.

ORDER

JAMES E. GRITZNER, Senior Judge

This matter comes before the Court on the Motion to Unseal, ECF No. 79, by Intervenors Randy Evans (Evans) and Iowa Freedom of Information Council (Iowa FOI Council) (collectively, Intervenors). Defendants City of Burlington (the City) and Officer Jesse Hill (Hill) (collectively, Defendants) resist. The Court conducted a hearing on the Motion on August 1, 2018. Attorney Michael Giudicessi was present for Intervenors, attorney David O'Brien was present for Plaintiffs, and attorneys Martha Shaff and Brandon Lobberecht were present for Defendants. The matter is fully submitted and ready for disposition.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 14, 2016, Plaintiffs Gabriel Steele (Gabriel), individually, as executor of the estate of his deceased wife Autumn Steele (Autumn) and as next of friend for his minor child, G.S.; Sean Schoff, as next of friend for his minor child, K.S.; and Gina Colbert (collectively, Plaintiffs) filed this lawsuit against Defendants. This lawsuit stems from Autumn's tragic death on January 6, 2015, when she was struck by an errant bullet fired by Officer Hill in response to what Hill perceived as a threat from the Steeles' family dog.

Plaintiffs charged Defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating their rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs also sued under Article I, §§ 8 and 9 of the Iowa Constitution and asserted various claims under Iowa tort law against Defendants. Several counts were dismissed by the Court in a prior order on Defendants' motion to dismiss. Steele v. City of Burlington, No. 3:16-cv-00105-JEG (S.D. Iowa May 8, 2017), ECF No. 20.

Early in the case, the parties agreed to the entry of a Protective Order to avoid public disclosure of some case documents. On January 12, 2018, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Consistent with their Protective Order, the parties' briefs and other documents relating to the cross-motions for summary judgment were filed under seal. On February 24, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a motion to unseal the summary judgment record. The parties' briefs filed in support of and in resistance to Plaintiffs' motion to unseal were filed under seal. On May 24, 2018, the Court held a hearing on the cross-motions for summary judgment. On June 5, 2018, prior to the Court's ruling on the pending motions, counsel notified the Court that the case had settled. Thus, the Court did not ultimately decide the motions, and on June 6, 2018, all deadlines and pending motions before the Court were terminated. On August 7, 2018, counsel stipulated to the dismissal of all causes of action filed by Plaintiffs against Defendants, with prejudice, pursuant to the terms of their settlement.

On June 12, 2018, Intervenors filed their motion to unseal all court filings in this case. Evans is executive director of the Iowa FOI Council, a non-profit corporation that "serves as an umbrella organization that seeks to foster and protect access to information from and about government, including the courts." Intervenors' Mot. Unseal ¶ 9, ECF No. 79. The Iowa FOI Council's membership includes, inter alia , the Armstrong Journal , the Business Record , Cedar Rapids Gazette Company, Cityview , Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, Iowa Public Television, N'West Iowa REVIEW , Quad-City Times , Sioux City Journal , and the Storm Lake Times. On June 26, 2018, Defendants filed their resistance, and on July 5, 2018, Intervenors filed their Reply. Plaintiffs do not resist the Motion.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard for the Motion

The Court "has supervisory control over its records." Flynt v. Lombardi, 885 F.3d 508, 511 (8th Cir. 2018). "Whether or not to seal a court file is a decision ‘best left to the sound discretion of the trial court.’ " Duckworth v. St. Louis Metro. Police Dep't, 654 F. App'x 249, 250 (8th Cir. 2016) (unpublished per curiam) (quoting United States v. Webbe, 791 F.2d 103, 106 (8th Cir. 1986) ).

B. Common-Law Right of Access

Intervenors assert they have a common-law right of access to the court filings in this case. "Generally speaking, there is a common-law right of access to judicial records, but that right is not absolute." Flynt, 885 F.3d at 511 (citing Nixon v. Warner Commc'ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597-98, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 55 L.Ed.2d 570 (1978) ) ). "The primary rationales for this right are the public's confidence in, and the accountability of, the judiciary." Id. (citing IDT Corp. v. eBay, 709 F.3d 1220, 1222 (8th Cir. 2013) ). "Whether the common-law presumption can be overcome is determined by balancing ‘the interests served by the common-law right of access ... against the salutary interests served by maintaining confidentiality of the information sought to be sealed.’ " Id. (alteration in original) (quoting IDT, 709 F.3d at 1223 ). "In order to adjudicate the issue, [the Court] must first decide if the documents in question are ‘judicial records,’ and if so, must next consider whether the party seeking to prevent disclosure has overcome the common-law right of access that would otherwise apply to such records." Id. (quoting IDT, 709 F.3d at 1222-23 ).

1. Judicial records

Defendants, in resistance, contend Intervenors lack a common-law right of access to the court filings in this case because the filings are not judicial records. "There may be a historical case to be made that a civil complaint filed with a court, but then soon dismissed pursuant to settlement, is not the sort of judicial record to which there is a presumption of public access." IDT, 709 F.3d at 1222-23. However, the Eighth Circuit has recognized "a modern trend in federal cases to treat pleadings in civil litigation (other than discovery motions and accompanying exhibits) as presumptively public, even when the case is pending before judgment, or resolved by settlement." Id. at 1222-23 (internal citations omitted) (citing cases from the First, Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals and noting that in the case before it, the parties did not dispute that the antitrust complaint filed in the lawsuit which settled without court resolution was a " ‘judicial record’ to which a common-law right of access attaches").

The Eighth Circuit has not addressed whether summary judgment records, including briefs and appendices, constitute judicial records in a case that has settled before the Court could rule on the dispositive motion. However, multiple U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and U.S. District Courts have broadly concluded that "the presumption of public access (and concomitant need to articulate a compelling reason for non-disclosure) attaches to documents filed with the court in support of merits-based motions." Krueger v. Ameriprise Fin., Inc., CIV. NO. 11-2781 (SRN/JSM), 2014 WL 12597948, at *8 (D. Minn. Oct. 14, 2014) (collecting cases), adopted by, No. 11-CV-02781 SRN/JSM, 2015 WL 224705 (D. Minn. Jan. 15, 2015) ; see FTC v. AbbVie Prods. LLC, 713 F.3d 54, 63 (11th Cir. 2013) (holding that "material filed with discovery motions is not subject to the common-law right of access, whereas discovery material filed in connection with pretrial motions that require judicial resolution of the merits is subject to the common-law right," and paradigmatic materials that "invoke ‘judicial resolution of the merits’ " include "complaints, motions to dismiss, or motions for summary judgment" (citation omitted) ); In re U.S. for an Order Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 2703(D), 707 F.3d 283, 290-91 (4th Cir. 2013) (reaffirming that "documents filed with the court are ‘judicial records’ if they play a role in the adjudicative process, or adjudicate substantive rights," including "discovery documents filed in connection with a dispositive motion, such as a motion for summary judgment"); Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 121 (2d Cir. 2006) ("Our precedents indicate that documents submitted to a court for its consideration in a summary judgment motion are—as a matter of law—judicial documents to which a strong presumption of access attaches, under both the common law and the First Amendment," even where the district court had not yet "ruled on the underlying summary judgment motion"); Baxter Int'l, Inc. v. Abbott Labs., 297 F.3d 544, 546 (7th Cir. 2002) ("[D]ispositive documents in any litigation enter the public record notwithstanding any earlier agreement. How else are observers to know what the suit is about or assess the judges' disposition of it?"); San Jose Mercury News, Inc. v. U.S. Dist. Court—N. Dist. (San Jose), 187 F.3d 1096, 1102 (9th Cir. 1999) (explaining that "the unbroken string of authorities ... leaves little doubt" that "the federal common law right of public access extends to materials submitted in connection with motions for summary judgment in civil cases prior to judgment"); Leucadia, Inc. v. Applied Extrusion Techs., Inc., 998 F.2d 157, 164 (3d Cir. 1993) ("[T]here is a presumptive right of public access...