Anonymous plaintiffs

An unnamed manufacturer challenging an online database of safety complaints has asked the court to allow it to proceed anonymously, arguing that the public filing of legal documents implicates the very interests the company seeks to protect by bringing the litigation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (3rd Cir.) issued an opinion last week providing trial courts with more specific guidance in deciding when to allow parties to proceed anonymously in federal court.

Several women suing the creator of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series will be allowed to proceed anonymously in the case, after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta (11th Cir.) on Tuesday overturned a district court judge's decision requiring disclosure.

But the court left open the issue of whether the plaintiffs' request for restricted reporting at trial would serve as an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.

Two U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) judges voiced strong dissenting opinions in the court’s recent decision not to rehear an appeal made by juvenile plaintiffs who wished to proceed anonymously in their civil rights lawsuit against a Hawaii school.