Bowen v. JEA Senior Living Health and Welfare Benefit Plan, LLC

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 10, 2021·No. 2:20-cv-02318·Unknown

Opinion

1 BRYAN L. HAWKINS (SB #238346) bryan.hawkins@stoel.com 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600 3 Sacramento, CA 95814 Telephone: 916.447.0700 4 Facsimile: 916.447.4781

5 BAO M. VU (SB #277970) bao.vu@stoel.com Three Embarcadero Center, Suite 1120 7 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415.617.8900 8 Facsimile: 415.617.8901

9 Attorneys for Defendants JEA Senior Living Health & Welfare Benefit Plan, 10 LLC; Willow Springs Management CA, LLC; Blossom Grove, CA, LLC; Empire Ranch 11 Alzheimer’s Special Care Center

12 15 16 ANNICA B. BOWEN, a.k.a. ANNICA Case No. 2:20−CV−02318−TLN−KJN PALACIO, individually, and on behalf of 17 similarly situated employees, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 18 Plaintiff, 19 v. WELFARE BENEFIT PLAN LLC, a 21 Washington Limited Liability Company, WILLOW SPRINGS MANAGEMENT CA, 22 LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company, BLOSSOM GROVE, CA, LLC, a Delaware 23 Limited Liability Company, EMPIRE RANCH ALZHEIMER’S SPECIAL CARE CENTER, a 24 business entity form unknown, and DOES 1- 100, inclusive, 25 Defendants. 26

27 28 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Plaintiff Annica B. Bowen has filed a putative wage and hour class action on behalf of 3 other similarly situated hourly employees that work or worked in California as caregivers for 4 Defendants JEA Senior Living Health & Welfare Benefit Plan, LLC; Willow Springs 5 Management CA, LLC; Blossom Grove, CA, LLC; or Empire Ranch Alzheimer’s Special Care 6 Center (collectively “Defendants”). Defendants operate assisted living care facilities which are 7 homes to elder adults, disabled adults, and patients with memory loss such as Alzheimer’s and 8 dementia. 9 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 10 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 11 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation. Specifically, 12 pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(c), the types of confidential, proprietary, or private information the 13 parties anticipate exchanging and for which the protections herein are sought includes, but is not 14 limited to: 15 (a) personnel files and payroll records for California caregiver employees which may 16 contain confidential and sensitive information such as addresses, phone numbers, social security 17 numbers, identification of dependents and minors, benefits, medical and/or psychiatric records, 18 evaluations and disciplinary action which may contain the identities of facility residents, 19 background checks and financial records for the employee(s); 20 (b) confidential agreements which govern how the subject facilities are managed and 21 maintained; 22 (c) putative class lists with confidential contact and payroll information for California 23 caregivers employed by Defendants; and 24 (d) Defendants’ financial and accounting documents not generally known or available 25 to the public. 26 These documents should be protected from disclosure because they contain confidential, 27 proprietary, or private and sensitive information, which is protected from disclosure by 28 Defendants and which, if disclosed publicly and outside of the scope of this present litigation, 1 could cause harm to Defendants (including competitive harm) and to third parties to this 2 litigation. 3 The parties believe that the terms and conditions set forth below should be 4 entered by a court order, as opposed to a private agreement between or among the parties, because 5 the terms herein will pertain solely to the production and use of discovery in this action, will set 6 forth procedures by which the parties can expeditiously resolve confidentiality or privilege-related 7 disputes before the Court, and will govern potential discovery from third parties who would not 8 otherwise be subject to a private agreement. 9 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following 10 Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket 11 protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from 12 public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to 13 confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as 14 set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file 15 confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be 16 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to 17 file material under seal. 18 2. DEFINITIONS 19 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 20 information or items under this Order. 21 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 22 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 23 of Civil Procedure 26(c). 24 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as 25 well as their support staff). 26 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that 27 it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 28 1 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 2 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 3 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 4 responses to discovery in this matter. 5 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 6 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 7 consultant in this action. 8 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House 9 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 10 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 11 entity not named as a Party to this action. 12 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 13 action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action 14 on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 15 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 16 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 17 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 18 Material in this action. 19 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 20 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 21 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 22 subcontractors. 23 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 24 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 25 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 26 Producing Party.

27 28 1 3. SCOPE 2 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 3 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 4 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 5 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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Bowen v. JEA Senior Living Health and Welfare Benefit Plan, LLC, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

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