C. Ted Thompson v. Westfax, Inc.

Opinion

1 KAZEROUNI LAW GROUP, APC Pamela E. Prescott, Esq. (328243) 2 || pamela@kazlg.com 3 Ashley LaPointe, Esq. (365017) ashley@kazlg.com 4|| 245 Fischer Avenue, Unit D1 5 Costa Mesa, California 92626 Telephone: (800) 400-6808 6|| Facsimile: (800) 520-5523 Attorneys for Plaintiff, 8 || C. Ted Thompson 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Case No.: 2:26-cv—02134-SB-SPx 12|| C. TED THOMPSON STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 13 Plaintiff, ORDER 14 V. 15 16|| WESTFAX, INC. 17 Defendant. 18 19 20 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 93 || disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be 74 || warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter 75 || the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order 96 || does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 27 || that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 28 -|-

1 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 2 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, 3 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential 4 information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be 5 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from 6 the court to file material under seal. 7 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 8 9 10 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, commercially sensitive 11 information, pricing lists, customer contracts, and other valuable research, 12 development, commercial, financial, technical, and/or proprietary information for 13 which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other 14 than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary 15 materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or 16 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other 17 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including 18 information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise 19 generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected 20 from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common 21 law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 22 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately 23 protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the 24 parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and 25 in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve 26 the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. 27 It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 1 || tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause 3 || why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 4 2. DEFINITIONS 5 2.1 Action: Thompson v. WestFax, Case No.:2:26-—cv—02134-SB-SPx 6 2.2. Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order. 8 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless 9|| of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 10 || protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the 11 || Good Cause Statement. 12 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 13 || their support staff). 14 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information 15||or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 16|| “CONFIDENTIAL.” 17 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, 18 || regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 19 || Gncluding, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are 20 || produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 21 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a 22 || matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to 23 || Serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 24 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this 25 || Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 26 || outside counsel. 27 28 3.

1 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, 2 or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 3 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 4 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action, 5 including but not limited to those who have appeared in this Action on behalf of that 6 party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and 7 includes support staff. 8 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, 9 directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record 10 (and their support staffs). 11 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 12 Discovery Material in this Action. 13 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 14 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 15 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 16 and their employees and subcontractors. 17 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 18 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 19 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 20 Material from a Producing Party. 21 3. SCOPE 22 23 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 24 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 25 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 26 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 27 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 1 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. 2 This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 3 4. DURATION 4 5 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as 6 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will 7 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless 8 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are 9 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of 10 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” 11 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 12 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 13 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 14 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 15 16 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each 17 Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 18 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 19 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 20 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 21 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications 22 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 23 this Order. 24 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 25 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 26 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 27 1 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 2 to sanctions. 3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 5 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this 7 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated 8 or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this 9 Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 11 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 12 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the 13 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 14 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a 15 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 16 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 17 markings in the margins). 18 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 19 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 20 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before 21 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 22 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants 23 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 24 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the 25 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” 26 to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the 27 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 1 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 2 margins). 3 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the 4 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 5 deposition all protected testimony. 6 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 7 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 8 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 9 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 10 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 11 portion(s). 12 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 13 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 14 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 15 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 16 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 17 Order. 18 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 19 20 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation 21 of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 22 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 23 process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 24 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 25 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 26 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 27 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 1 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the 2 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing 3 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 4 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 6 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 7 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 8 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 9 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 10 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 11 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 12 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location 13 and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized 14 under this Order. 15 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 16 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving 17 Party may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 18 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well 19 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 20 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 21 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 22 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 23 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 24 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 25 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 26 (d) the court and its personnel; 27 (e) court reporters and their staff; 1 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 2 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who 3 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 4 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 5 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 6 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for witnesses, in the 7 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 8 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and 9 (2) they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they 10 sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless 11 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 12 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 13 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be 14 disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; 15 and 16 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 17 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 18 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 19 IN OTHER LITIGATION 20 21 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 22 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 23 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 24 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 25 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 26 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 27 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 1 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 2 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 3 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 4 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 5 6 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 7 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 8 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 9 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 10 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 11 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 12 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to 13 disobey a lawful directive from another court. 14 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 15 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 16 17 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 18 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 19 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 20 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should 21 be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 22 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 23 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party 24 is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 25 confidential information, then the Party shall: 26 27 1 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 2 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 3 agreement with a Non-Party; 4 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 5 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 6 specific description of the information requested; and 7 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 8 Party, if requested. 9 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 10 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 11 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 12 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the 13 Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control 14 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 15 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party 16 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its 17 Protected Material. 18 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 19 20 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 21 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 22 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 23 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 24 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 25 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 26 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 27 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 1 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 2 PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 4 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 5 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 6 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 7 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 8 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 9 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 10 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 11 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 12 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 13 to the court. 14 15 12. MISCELLANEOUS 16 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 17 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 18 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 19 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 20 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 21 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 22 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 23 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 24 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 25 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 26 Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material under seal 27 1 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 2 record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 3 4 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 5 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 6 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 7 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material at the Receiving 8 Party’s election. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all 9 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 10 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned 11 or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 12 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 13 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material 14 that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not 15 retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 16 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this 17 provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion 18 papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, 19 deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant 20 and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 21 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this 22 Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 23 24 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 2 25 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 26 sanctions. 27 /// 1 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 2 Dated: April 17, 2026 Respectfully Submitted, 3

4 KAZEROUNI LAW GROUP, APC

5 By: /s/ Pamela E. Prescott 6 David J. McGlothlin, Esq. Pamela E. Prescott, Esq. 7 Ashley LaPointe, Esq. 8 Attorneys for Plaintiff

9 Dated: April 17, 2026 Respectfully Submitted, 10 MEDINA McKELVEY LLP 11

12 By: /s/ Melissa M. Whitehead Jamie Chanin Pollaci 13 Eric M. Lloyd 14 Melissa M. Whitehead 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 2|| FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 4|| DATED: April 27, 2026 PB 6 Sheri Pym 8 || United States Magistrate Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 -15-

1|| EXHIBIT A 2|| ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 1, [print or type full name], O 4 [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury thé 5 || [have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issue 6|| by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on [date] 1 7|| the case of Thompson v. WestFax, Case No.: 2:26-cv—02134-SB-SPx I agree t 8 || comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and 9 || understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanction || and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclos 11 || in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Orde 12 || to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 13 || further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for th Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulate 15 || Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of thi 16|| action. I hereby appoint [print or type full name] c 17 [print or type full address an 18 || telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection wit 19 || this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protectiv 20 || Order. 21 || Date: 22 || City and State where sworn and signed: 23 24 || Printed name: 25 26 || Signature: 27 -16-