Arturo Zarazua v. Rocket Mortgage, LLC

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: November 7, 2024
• Docket: 5:24-cv-01296
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ARTURO ZARAZUA and BEATRICE Case No. 5:24-cv-01296-MWF-SP ZARAZUA, [District Judge: Hon. Michael W. Fitzgerald; 12 Magistrate Judge: Hon. Sheri Pym] Plaintiff, 13 PROTECTIVE ORDER RE 14 v. CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

ROCKET MORTGAGE, LLC; and 15 Complaint Filed: May 17, 2024 DOES 1-10 inclusive,

16 [Proposed Order filed concurrently herewith] Defendants. 17 18 PURSUANT TO THE STIPULATION OF THE PARTIES (“Stipulation for Entry of 19 Protective Order re Confidential Documents”), and pursuant to the Court’s inherent and statutory 20 authority, including but not limited to the Court’s authority under the applicable Federal Rules of 21 Civil Procedure and the United States District Court, Central District of California Local Rules; 22 after due consideration of all of the relevant pleadings, papers, and records in this action; and upon 23 such other evidence or argument as was presented to the Court; Good Cause appearing therefor, 24 and in furtherance of the interests of justice, 25 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 26 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 27 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or private 28 information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other 1 than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and 2 petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that 3 this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 4 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or 5 items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 6 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 7 This action is likely to involve private consumer financial information and confidential 8 business information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 9 purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary 10 materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial 11 information, information regarding confidential business practices, trade secrets, or other 12 confidential or commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 13 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or 14 otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or 15 common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution 16 of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties 17 are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses 18 of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end 19 of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in 20 this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 21 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been 22 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part 23 of the public record of this case. 24 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 25 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated 26 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil Rule 27 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 28 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that 1 the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with 2 non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana 3 v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 4 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 5 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific 6 showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal 7 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. 8 The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— 9 without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought 10 to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good 11 cause. Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling 12 reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be narrowly 13 tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 14 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing sought 15 to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, 16 supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent 17 evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration. 18 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its entirety 19 will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents can be 20 redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or 21 otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file 22 documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not 23 feasible. 24 4. DEFINITIONS 25 4.1 Action: the current action of Zarazua, et. al. v. Rocket Mortgage, LLC, Case No. 26 Case No. 5:24-cv-01296-MWF-SP, pending in this Court. 27 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 28 information or items under this Order. 1 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 2 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 3 of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 4 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support 5 staff). 6 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 7 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 8 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 9 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 10 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 11 responses to discovery. 12 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 13 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 14 consultant in this Action. 15 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House 16 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 17 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other legal 18 entity not named as a Party to this action. 19 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 20 Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in this Action on 21 behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that party, and 22 includes support staff. 23 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 24 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 25 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 26 Material in this Action. 27 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 28 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 1 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 2 subcontractors. 3 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 4 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 5 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 6 Producing Party. 7 5. SCOPE 8 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 9 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 10 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 11 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 12 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge and 13 other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 14 6. DURATION 15 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or 16 maintained pursuant to this protective order used and introduced at trial becomes public and will 17 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling 18 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in 19 advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” showing 20 for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits- 21 related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the term of this protective order does 22 not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 23 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 24 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 25 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order 26 must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate 27 standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, 28 documents, items or oral or written communications that qualify so, that other portions of the 1 material, documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 2 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 3 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 4 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 5 encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 6 parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 7 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 8 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other 9 Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 10 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order, 11 or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 12 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 13 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 14 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 15 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party 16 affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to 17 each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 18 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 19 appropriate markings in the margins). 20 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not 21 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it 22 would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 23 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 24 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 25 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 26 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 27 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page 28 1 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., 2 by making appropriate markings in the margins). 3 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the 4 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all protected 5 testimony. 6 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 7 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container 8 or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion 9 or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, 10 shall identify the protected portion(s). 11 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 12 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 13 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 14 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated 15 in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 16 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 17 8.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 18 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 19 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process 20 under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 21 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint 22 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 23 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 24 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass 25 or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party 26 to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, 27 all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 28 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 1 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 3 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for prosecuting, 4 defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the 5 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been 6 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL 7 DISPOSITION). 8 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in 9 a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 10 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered 11 by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 12 information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 13 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 14 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 15 information for this Action; 16 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 17 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 18 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 19 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement 20 to Be Bound” (Exhibit A) 21 (d) the court and its personnel; 22 (e) court reporters and their staff; 23 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to 24 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 25 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 26 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian 27 or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 28 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action to 1 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the witness 2 sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any 3 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 4 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 5 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 6 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 7 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 8 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, mutually 9 agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 10 10. PROTECTED MATERIALS SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 11 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 12 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 13 must: 14 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include 15 a copy of the subpoena or court order; 16 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue 17 in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 18 this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 19 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 20 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party timely seeks 21 a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any 22 information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court 23 from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 24 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that 25 court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing 26 or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 27 / / / 28 1 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 2 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party 3 in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties 4 in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 5 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 6 protections. 7 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 8 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement 9 with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 10 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the NonParty that 11 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 12 agreement with a Non-Party; 13 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 14 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 15 specific description of the information requested; and 16 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, 17 if requested. 18 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 days 19 of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 20 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks 21 a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control 22 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 23 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of 24 seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 25 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 27 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, 28 1 the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 2 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected 3 Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the 4 terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an 5 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 6 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 8 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 9 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision 10 is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that 11 provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) 12 and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 13 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may 14 incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 15 14. MISCELLANEOUS 16 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 17 seek its modification by the Court in the future. 18 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order, 19 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 20 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 21 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by 22 this Protective Order. 23 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 24 must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant 25 to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file 26 Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the 27 information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 28 1 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 2 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 days of a 3 written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material 4 to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” 5 includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 6 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 7 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 8 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, 9 where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the 10 Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 11 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel 12 are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 13 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney 14 work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected 15 Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to 16 this Protective Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 17 16. VIOLATION 18 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, without 19 limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21

22 DATED: November 7, 2024 __________________________________ 23 Honorable Sheri Pym UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 25 26 27 28 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, ____________________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _______________________________________ [print or type full address], declare under 5 penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order 6 that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on 7 ___________________ [Date] in the case of Zarazua v. Rocket Mortgage, LLC, et al., Case 8 Number 5: 24-cv-01296-MWF SP. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 9 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could 10 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will 11 not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 12 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 14 Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 15 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 16 I hereby appoint _____________________________________ [print or type full name] of 17 ________________________________________________________ [print or type full address 18 and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this 19 action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 20 21 Date: _____________________________________ 22 City and State where sworn and signed: __________________________________ 23 Printed name: _____________________________________ 24 Signature: ________________________________________

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