UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
ORDER
Appropriate public notice and an opportunity for comment having been given, pursuant to a
majority vote of the active judges of this court;
IT IS ORDERED that effective January 1, 2024, the Local Civil Rules of the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana are hereby amended as follows:
LR 7.5 Response and Memorandum
Each party opposing a motion must file and serve a memorandum in opposition to the
motion with citations of authorities no later than eight days before the noticed
submission date. If the opposition requires consideration of facts not in the record,
counsel must also file and serve all evidence submitted in opposition to the motion
with the memorandum. The party that filed the motion may file and serve a reply
brief in support of the motion no later than 4:00 p.m., two working days before the
noticed submission date. Motions shall be decided by the court on the basis of the
record, including timely filed briefs and any supporting or opposing documents filed
therewith.
LR 78.1 Motions Days Submission Dates and Oral Argument
Wednesday of each week, or such other day as the court may designate from time to
time by order, is motion day. On this day, motions will be scheduled for submission
and oral arguments conducted, if requested and permitted. Motions may also be
designated for submission and/or hearing at some other time by order of the
individual judge to whom the action is allotted. On motion day, the court also
considers reviews from magistrate judges’ rulings, contradictory motions requiring
action by the court after hearing and other matters required by law or court order to
be heard and determined summarily. Each section of court will designate dates on
which motions will be scheduled for submission.
Oral arguments on motions will be conducted, if requested and permitted. Oral
arguments will be scheduled at the specific date and time set by order of the individual
judge to whom the action is allotted.
Any party seeking oral argument must file either contemporaneously with the filing of
the motion or opposition memorandum to a motion, or within three days after receipt
of the opposition memorandum to a motion, a separate written request for oral
argument. Oral argument will be permitted in such cases without further order of
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only if ordered by the court, unless the court advises the parties, as soon as practicable,
that the request for oral argument is denied.
LR 5.6 Procedure for Filing Documents Under Seal
(A) In recognition of the right of the public to access material filed with the court, Nno
document or other tangible item, or portion thereof, may be filed under seal without
the filing of a separate motion and order to seal, unless authorized by law federal
statute, federal rule, or prior court order in the same case expressly authorizing the
party to file certain documents (or portions thereof) under seal. All reasonable
alternatives to filing under seal must be explored, including a line-by-line analysis of
the documents or other tangible item (including documents marked confidential under
a protective order) to redact only the truly sensitive information rather than simply
seeking to file the entire document or other item under seal. The redacted document
or other item may then be publicly filed, with the unredacted version filed under seal.
(B) A party must file a motion to seal a document or other tangible item at the same time
that the party submits the document or other tangible item. Filing a motion to seal
permits the party to provisionally file the document or other tangible item under seal,
pending the court’s ruling on the motion to seal. When the document or other tangible
item to be sealed is a declaration or an exhibit to a document filed electronically, an
otherwise blank page reading “EXHIBIT FILED UNDER SEAL” shall replace the
exhibit in the document filed on the public docket, and the exhibit to be filed under
seal shall be filed separately as an attachment to a Motion to File Under Seal as set
forth herein.
(C) Motions to seal an entire pleading or brief are disfavored and—unless a federal statute
or federal rule provides otherwise—will be granted only in extraordinary
circumstances. Parties should not routinely seek to file even portions of a pleading
or brief under seal. For redacted pleadings and briefs, the following procedure
applies:
(1) the party shall redact the confidential information from the pleading or brief
and file the redacted version on the public docket; and
(2) the party shall also file the unredacted pleading or brief under seal, as an
attachment to the Motion to File Under Seal. The unredacted version must
include the phrase “FILED UNDER SEAL” prominently marked on the first
page and must highlight the portions for which sealing is sought.
(D) Any motion providing prospectively for filing materials under seal (including
pleadings, motions, briefs, or attachments thereto) must be accompanied by a non-
confidential supporting memorandum, a notice of the request to seal, and a proposed
order. The proposed order must recite the findings required by governing case law to
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support the proposed sealing. The mere fact that certain information or material has
been marked as confidential pursuant to a protective order is not dispositive of whether
the information or material will be sealed when filed with the court, and reference to
a stipulation or protective order is not sufficient to establish the necessity of sealing
any document or other tangible item.
(1) A motion to seal a document that the movant has designated as confidential
(as opposed to a document designated as confidential by another party, as
discussed in subsection (2) below) must be filed as a Motion to File Under
Seal. The motion must include the following: The non confidential
memorandum and proposed order must include:
(a) A non-confidential description of the portions of the document sought
what is to be sealed (e.g., personal identifiers in medical records);
(b) A statement as to why sealing is necessary;
(c) Reference to governing case law; and
(d) A statement of the period of time the party seeks to have the matter
maintained under seal and how the matter is to be handled upon sealing.
The proposed order must recite the findings required by governing case law to support the
proposed sealings.
The movant may also submit a confidential memorandum for in camera review in support of
the motion. Memoranda supporting or opposing the motion may be submitted and may be
designated, in whole or in part, as confidential. Any confidential memoranda must be treated
as sealed pending the ruling on the motion to seal.
The clerk must provide public notice by docketing the motion as set forth in the non-
confidential description and date assigned for submission.
A party submitting a document or portion of a document for filing under seal pursuant to a
governing statute, rule, or order must note on the face of the document that it or a portion of
it is filed under seal pursuant to that statute, rule or order.
(2) A motion to seal a document that has been designated as confidential by
another party or non-party (the “Designating Party”) must be filed as a Motion
to Consider Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed. Service of
such motion must be made on the Designating Party on the same day as the
filing of the motion. The motion must include:
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(a) Identification of each document or portions thereof for which sealing
is sought, but need not include the information specified in subsection
(1)(a)-(d) above.
(b) Within seven days of the filing, the Designating Party must file a
statement and/or declaration setting forth the information described in
subsection (1)(a)-(d). A Designating Party’s failure to file a statement
or declaration may result in the unsealing of the provisionally sealed
document or other tangible item without further notice to the
Designating Party.
(c) Any other party who wishes to file a response to the Motion to Consider
Whether Another Party’s Material Should Be Sealed must do so no
later than 14 days after the motion is filed.
(3) If the court grants the motion to seal, the movant, after consulting the
Designating Party (if applicable), must file a redacted version of the sealed
document within 14 days of the order granting the motion to seal, which
redacted version shall be linked to the original publicly filed motion.
(E) An attorney electronically filing a document or other tangible item under seal must
serve opposing counsel and any unrepresented parties with the unredacted document
or tangible item by means other than the court’s electronic filing system, as no service
of sealed filings occurs via the court’s CM/ECF system. The sealed document or other
tangible item shall attach a separate certificate of service reflecting the means by
which service was made.
(F) Upon filing a document under seal, the clerk must provide public notice by stating on
the docket that the document is sealed.
(G) When the court grants a motion to seal, the document or other tangible item will
remain under seal until expiration of the seal or further order of the court. If the
motion to file under seal is denied, the movant may file another motion to remove the
document(s) from the record within seven days. If no such motion is timely filed, the
document(s) must be filed as a public record
(H) When a pro se party who is not an electronic filer wishes to manually file a Each
document filed under seal, the pro se party must file a Motion to File Under Seal and
be submit the document ted to the clerk’s office securely sealed with the envelope
container clearly labeled “UNDER SEAL.” The case number, case caption, reference
to any statute, rule or order permitting the item to be sealed and a non-confidential
descriptive title of the document must also be noted on the envelope container.
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(F) A motion to have the entire case sealed is subject to the requirements and procedures
of subsections (C) and (E) of this rule.
(I) Nothing herein in this Rule restricts the parties from stipulating access to materials
that are not filed with the court.
(J) Except as permitted by law, trial exhibits (including documents previously filed under
seal), and trial transcripts will not be filed under seal.
26.3 Initial Disclosures in Misappropriation of Trade Secret Cases
Except as otherwise ordered by the court, in addition to the initial disclosures required by
FRCP 26(a), a party asserting that any trade secrets have been misappropriated must file under
seal a Trade Secrets Identification Statement before trade-secret-related discovery begins.
(A) Identification of Asserted Trade Secrets. A party claiming the existence of a trade
secret must, before merits discovery begins (or, subject to paragraph D below with a
motion for preliminary relief) identify in writing and serve on the parties, with a level
of particularity that is reasonable under the circumstances, each asserted trade secret.
The required particularity of this identification differs from what may be adequate in
a publicly filed pleading under applicable pleading rules such as FRCP 8. It must be
sufficiently particularized to allow the other party to meaningfully compare the
asserted trade secret to information that is generally known or readily ascertainable
and to permit the parties and the court to understand what information is claimed to
be the trade secret.
The identification should separate, to the extent practical, distinct trade secrets into
numbered paragraphs. A document may be appended as a supplement to the
identification but may not be used as a substitute for the identification unless the
document itself is claimed to be the trade secret. In cases where an entire document
or portions thereof constitute the trade secret, the written identification must identify
the content in such document or portions thereof in language sufficient to meet the
standards herein.
(B) Amendments. A party that has provided an initial identification under paragraph A
above may amend that identification upon the agreement of the parties or upon motion
establishing good cause.
(1) Prior to any motion to amend, the parties must confer regarding the timing and
terms of the proposed amendment. If the parties are unable to reach an
agreement, the party proposing the amendment may apply to the court for an
order allowing the proposed amendment.
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(2) In determining whether to grant leave to amend the identification, the court
shall consider whether the party seeking amendment was diligent and whether
the party opposing amendment would be unduly prejudiced by the amendment
considering, among other factors, whether the proposed amendment is based
on discovery of newly learned facts, the stage of the litigation, whether the
amendment will expand discovery and/or delay the trial date, and whether the
amendment adds, removes, or materially modifies asserted trade secrets or
merely clarifies an existing identification.
(C) Verification. The identification of each asserted trade secret shall be verified under
oath or affirmation by the individual or one or more employees or officers of the party
asserting trade secret misappropriation.
(D) Applications for Preliminary Relief. Where a party has evidence that an opposing
party improperly downloaded or otherwise took documents, things or information
from the party, and the party files a lawsuit that includes a trade secret
misappropriation cause of action, and then, by motion, seeks an early court order
requiring only that the defendant (1) preserve evidence; and/or (2) return the specific
documents, things or information allegedly taken, the moving party is not required to
prepare or serve a Trade Secret Identification Statement that complies with paragraph
A above prior to seeking such preliminary relief. In all other situations in which a
party asserting trade secret misappropriation seeks preliminary relief, the moving
party must comply with paragraph A as to the trade secrets for which it seeks early
injunctive relief to the extent it has not already done so. This paragraph is subject to
FRCP 65(d) or state law equivalents and other applicable statutory requirements.
New Orleans, Louisiana, this _____
20th day of December, 2023.
___________________________________________
NANNETTE JOLIVETTE BROWN, CHIEF JUDGE
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