Court provides guidelines for plaintiffs wishing to use pseudonyms

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted October 13, 2022 11:50 AM

Authorizing an immediate appeal under the collateral-order doctrine when a district judge rejected a plaintiff’s request to sue as John Doe, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the “elaborate multi-factor tests” applied by other circuits when litigants ask to use pseudonyms.It also declined to adopt an alternative approach suggested by a prominent First Amendment scholar and, charting a third way, issued a set of general guidelines.This important issue pits “the individual’s desire for privacy against the public …

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