Benthin v. Washoe County School District

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: November 12, 2024
• Docket: 3:24-cv-00428
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 || Andrea L. Schulewitch, Esq., Nev. Bar No. 15321 andrea.schulewitch@washoeschools.net 2 || Kevin A. Pick, Esq., Nev. Bar No. 11683 kevin.pick@washoeschools.net 3 || WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT P.O. Box 30425 4 || Reno, NV 89520-3425 Telephone: 775-348-0300 5 || Fax: 775-333-6010 Attorneys for Defendant Washoe County School District 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

«88 IN AND FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA = 9 || JAMES BENTHIN, an individual, CASE NO.: 3:24-cv-00428-ART-CSD 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER ll VS. © 5 12 || WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, ae a political subdivision of the State of Nevada; = 13 |} DOES I through XX, and ROE CORPORATIONS I through XX, 14 Defendants. 215 / 16 Pursuant to FRCP 26(c), in order to protect the confidentiality of confidential information 17 || obtained by the Parties in connection with this case, the Parties hereby agree as follows: 18 1. Any Party or non-party may designate as “confidential” (by stamping the relevant 19 || page or as otherwise set forth herein) any document or response to discovery which that Party or 20 ||non-party considers in good faith to contain information (herein referred to as “Confidential 21 || Information”) involving: (a) employment records of any employees or former employees of any 22 || Party; (b) confidential notes, memoranda, and statements regarding non-party employees; (c) 23 || confidential information concerning the discipline and/or termination of non-party employees and 24 || former employees; (d) the production of information or documents proprietary to any Party,

1 || including by way of example and not limitation, tax records, financial statements; (e) other private 2 || information of any Party or non-party to the present litigation, including consumer records, e.g., 3 || phone bills; (f) financial records and business records of any person or entity, whether a Party or 4 ||non-party to the present litigation; (g) medical records, including medical bills and psychological 5 ||records, and medical information of any person, whether a Party or non-party to the present 6 || litigation; (h) the name, identity, record or personally identifiable information of any student or 7 || former student of Defendant Washoe County School District which information is protected by ° 8 || the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. §1232g (FERPA); (j) any 9 || Confidential Administrative Investigative Reports, and their related documents, conducted by 10 || Defendant Washoe County School District; (k) any other personally identifiable information

11 || subject to protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or Nevada law; and (1) related 3 12 juvenile justice information protected by NRS Chapter 62H that has been approved for protected 2 13 release in the instant case. Where a document or response consists of more than one page, the 2 14 || first page and each page on which Confidential Information appears shall be so designated. 5 15 2. A Party or non-party may designate information disclosed during a deposition or 2 16 |]in response to written discovery as “confidential” by so indicating in said response or on the 17 record at the deposition and requesting the preparation of a separate transcript of such material. 18 || Additionally, a Party or non-party may designate in writing, within twenty (20) days after receipt 19 || of said responses or of the deposition transcript for which the designation is proposed, that specific 20 || pages of the transcript and/or specific responses be treated as “confidential” information. Any 21 || other Party may object to such proposal, in writing or on the record. Upon such objection, the 22 || Parties shall follow the procedures described herein below. After any designation made according 23 to the procedure set forth in this paragraph, the designated documents or information shall be 24 treated according to the designation until the matter is resolved according to the procedures

1 || described herein below, and counsel for all Parties shall be responsible for making all previously 2 ||unmarked copies of the designated material in their possession or control with the specified 3 || designation. 4 3. All information produced or exchanged in the course of this case (other than 5 ||information that is publicly available) shall be used by the Party or Parties to whom the 6 || information is produced solely for the purpose of this case. 7 4. Except with the prior written consent of other Parties, or upon prior order of this

° 8 || Court obtained upon notice to opposing counsel, Confidential Information shall not be disclosed 9 || to any person other than:

10 a) counsel for the respective Parties to this litigation, including in-house

11 || counsel and co-counsel retained for this litigation; 3 12 b) employees of such counsel; 2 13 Cc) individual defendants, class representatives, any officer or employee of a 2 14 || Party, to the extent deemed necessary by Counsel for the prosecution or defense of this litigation; 5 15 d) consultants or expert witnesses retained for the prosecution or defense of 2 16 || this litigation, provided that each such person shall execute a copy of the Certification annexed 17 || to this Order as Exhibit “A” (which shall be retained by counsel to the Party so disclosing the 18 || Confidential Information and made available for inspection by opposing counsel during the 19 || pendency or after the termination of the action only upon good cause shown and upon order of 20 || the Court) before being shown or given any Confidential Information; 21 e) any authors or recipients of the Confidential Information; 22 f) the Court, Court personnel, and court reporters; and 23 g) non-party witnesses (other than persons described in paragraph 4(e)). A 24 ||non-party witness (other than persons described in paragraph 4(c) and 4(e)) shall sign the

1 || Certification before being shown a confidential document. Confidential Information may be 2 || disclosed to a non-party witness (other than persons described in paragraph 4(c) and 4(e)) who 3 || will not sign the Certification only in a deposition at which the Party who designated the 4 || Confidential Information is represented or has been given notice that Confidential Information 5 ||shall be designated “Confidential”, as set forth herein above. Witnesses shown Confidential 6 || Information shall not be allowed to retain copies. 7 5. If a party wishes to use a document which has been marked as Confidential as an

° 8 || exhibit to a motion or pleading filed with the Court, the party may do so without seeking that the 9 |;entire document be filed under seal by redacting the “confidential information” from the

10 || document.

11 6. Any persons receiving Confidential Information shall not reveal or discuss such

12 || information to or with any person who is not entitled to receive such information, except as set 2 13 |) forth herein. 2 14 7. Unless otherwise permitted by statute, rule or prior court order, papers filed with 5 15 the court under seal shall be accompanied by a contemporaneous motion for leave to file those 2 16 || documents under seal, and shall be filed consistent with the court’s electronic filing procedures 17 || in accordance with Local Rule JA 10-5 and shall also comply with the requirements of Center for 18 || Auto Safety v. Chrysler Group, LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1097 (9th Cir. 2016). Notwithstanding any 19 || agreement among the Parties, the Party seeking to file a paper under seal bears the burden of 20 || overcoming the presumption in favor of public access to papers filed in court. Kamakana v. City 21 || and County of Honolulu, 447 F.2d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006); Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 22 || 665, 677- 78 (9th Cir. 2010). 23 8. A Party may designate as “Confidential” documents or discovery materials 24 || produced by a non-party by providing written notice to all Parties of the relevant document

1 |/numbers or other identification within thirty (30) days after receiving such documents or 2 || discovery materials. Any Party or non-party may voluntarily disclose to others without restriction 3 || any information designated by that Party or non-party as confidential, although a document may 4 || lose its confidential status if 1t is made public. 5 9. If a Party contends that any material is not entitled to confidential treatment, such 6 || Party may at any time give written notice to the Party or non-party who designated the material. 7 || The Party or non-party who designated the material shall have twenty-five (25) days from the

° 8 || receipt of such written notice to apply to the Court for an order designating the material as 9 || confidential. The Party or non-party seeking the order has the burden of establishing that the

10 || document is entitled to protection. 11 10. Notwithstanding any challenge to the designation of material as Confidential

12 || Information, all documents shall be treated as such and shall be subject to the provisions hereof 2 13 || unless and until one of the following occurs: 2 14 a) the Party or non-party claims that the material is Confidential Information 5 15 || withdraws such designation in writing; or 16 b) the Party or non-party who claims that the material is Confidential 17 || Information fails to apply to the Court for an order designating the material confidential within 18 || the time period specified above after receipt of a written challenge to such designation; or 19 Cc) the Court rules the material is not confidential. 20 11. — All provisions of this Order restricting the communication or use of Confidential 21 □□ Information shall continue to be binding after the conclusion of this action, unless otherwise 22 || agreed or ordered. Upon conclusion of the litigation, a Party in the possession of Confidential 23 || Information, other than that which is contained in pleadings, correspondence, and deposition 24 || transcripts, shall either (a) return such documents no later than thirty (30) days after conclusion

1 || of this action to counsel for the Party or non-party who provided such information, or (b) destroy 2 ||such documents within the time period upon consent of the Party who provided the information 3 || and certify in writing within thirty (30) days that the documents have been destroyed. 4 12. The terms of this Order do not preclude, limit, restrict, or otherwise apply to the 5 || use of documents at trial. 6 13. Nothing herein shall be deemed to waive any applicable privilege or work product 7 || protection, or to affect the ability of a Party to seek relief for an inadvertent disclosure of material

o 8 || protected by privilege or work product protection. = 9 14. Any witness or other person, firm or entity from which discovery is sought may 10 || be informed of and may obtain the protection of this Order by written advice of the Parties’

11 respective counsel or by oral advice at the time of any deposition or similar proceeding. 12 15. This Court will only retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of this Order while this = 13 || case is pending and its jurisdiction will terminate upon the dismissal of this case. 14 || DATED this 5" day of November, 2024. DATED this 5" day of November, 2024. 8 15 || CHATTAH LAW GROUP JOEY GILBERT LAW 16 By: /s/Sigal Chattah, Esq. By: /s/Joseph S. Gilbert, Esq. SIGAL CHATTAH, ESQ. JOSEPH S. GILBERT, ESQ. 17 5875 S. Rainbow Blvd. #203 405 Marsh Avenue Las Vegas, Nevada 89118 Reno, Nevada 89509 18 Tel: (702) 360-6200 Tel: (775) 284-7700 Fax: (702) 643-6292 Fax: (775) 284-3809 19 Chattahlaw@gmail.com Joey@Joeygilbertlaw.com Co-Counsel for James Benthin Co-Counsel for James Benthin 20 21 22 23 (signatures continued on following page) 24

] (Continued signature page for Stipulation Protective Order) 2 || DATED this 5" day of November, 2024. DATED this 5" day of November, 2024. 3 || JEPSEN LAW, PLLC WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL 4 By: /s/Kendra J. Jepsen, Esq. By: /s/Andrea L. Schulewitch, Esq. 5 KENDRA J. JEPSEN, Esq. Andrea L. Schulewitch, Esq. 405 Marsh Avenue andrea.schulewitch@washoeschools.net 6 Reno, Nevada 89509 Kevin A. Pick, Esq. (775) 376-7070 kevin.pick@washoeschools.net 7 Kendra@JepsenLawNV.com P.O. Box 30425 Co-Counsel for James Benthin Reno, Nevada 89520-3425 > «C8 Attorneys for Defendants

2 9 IT IS SO ORDERED: 10 Cc ll n 8 DATED: November 12, 2024 = 12 UNITED STATES MA@#STRATE JUDGE

a9 13

ee 44 2 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

1 EXHIBIT A 2 CERTIFICATION 3 I hereby certify my understanding that Confidential Information is being provided to me 4 || pursuant to the terms and restrictions of the Stipulated Protective Order dated November □□□ 5 || 2024, filed in Case No. 3:24-cv-00428. I have been given a copy of that Order and read it. I agree 6 || to be bound by the Order. I will not reveal the Confidential Information to anyone, except as 7 || allowed by the Order. I will maintain all such Confidential Information— including copies, notes, ° 8 || or other transcriptions made therefrom — in a secure manner to prevent unauthorized access to it. : 9 || No later than thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this action, I will return the Confidential 10 || Information—including copies, notes or other transcriptions made therefrom — to the counsel who

11 || provided me with the Confidential Information. I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the United

12 || States District Court for the purpose of enforcing the Stipulated Protective Order. 13 || DATED: Signature 14 5 15 PrintedName ss—‘“—<—“‘