How have courts dealt with the privacy interest of a plaintiff in a civil case?

[36 Cal.3d 304] Where it is not possible to accommodate both interests, courts have carried out their "careful balancing" by requiring a litigant to show a particular need for the information. The showing which a litigant must make varies, depending on the weight accorded the privacy interest. For example, in Britt v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal.3d 844, 143 Cal.Rptr. 695, 574 P.2d 766, this court held that where a defendant sought discovery which implicated the First Amendment associational rights of a large class of plaintiffs, it was entitled only to

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