Core Focus Consulting 2, LLC v. RenewAge Energy Solutions, Inc.

Opinion

1 Amjad M. Khan (SBN 237325) amjad@bnsklaw.com 11601 Wilshire Blvd #2080 3 Los Angeles, CA 90025 Tel: (310) 593-9890 4 Thomas C. Rickeman (SBN 288248) 5 tom@bnsklaw.com BROWN, NERI, SMITH & KHAN LLP 6 650 Town Center Dr., #520 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 7 Tel: (949) 676-0030) 8 Attorneys for Defendant RENEWAGE ENERGY SOLUTIONS, INC. 9 12 13 CORE FOCUS CONSULTING 2, LLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-01809-CV-RAO 14 Plaintiff, District Judge: Hon. Cynthia Valenzuela 15 v. Magistrate Judge: Hon. Rozella A. Oliver 16 R INE CN .,EWAGE ENERGY SOLUTIONS, S OT RI DP EU RLATED PROTECTIVE 17 Defendant. 18 Action Filed: March 6, 2024 Trial Date: October 28, 2025 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Plaintiff Core Focus Consulting 2, LLC and Defendant RenewAge Energy 2 Solutions, Inc. hereby stipulate to the following protective order: 4 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 5 proprietary, and/or private information for which special protection from public 6 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 7 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 8 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 9 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 10 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 11 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 12 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth 13 in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to 14 file confidential information under seal; the parties must follow the applicable local 15 rules, including the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be 16 applied when a party seeks permission from the Court to file material under seal. 18 This action involves alleged confidential, financial, technical and/or 19 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and 20 from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 21 confidential and proprietary materials and information may consist of, among other 22 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 23 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or 24 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 25 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be 26 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, 27 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of 1 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep 2 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of 3 such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling 4 at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 5 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information 6 will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so 7 designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, 8 non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public 9 record of this case. 11 2.1 Action: Core Focus Consulting 2, LLC v. RenewAge Energy Solutions, 12 Inc., Case No. 2:24-cv-01809-CV-RAO. 13 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 14 designation of information or items under this Order. 15 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 16 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify 17 for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as 18 specified above in the Good Cause Statement, including, but not 19 limited to, information contained or disclosed in any materials, 20 including documents, portions of documents, answers to 21 interrogatories, responses to requests for admissions, trial testimony, 22 deposition testimony, and transcripts of trial testimony and depositions, 23 including data, summaries, and compilations derived therefrom that is 24 deemed to be confidential information by any party to which it belongs. 25 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 26 their support staff). 27 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 1 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ 2 EYES ONLY.” 3 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 4 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 5 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible 6 things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 7 discovery in this matter. 8 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 9 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its 10 counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 11 2.8 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information or 12 items (regardless of how generated, stored or maintained) or tangible 13 things that contain or reflect sensitive Confidential Information that the 14 designating party contends are trade secrets and/or commercially 15 sensitive, the disclosure of which could cause harm that could not be 16 avoided absent such designation. 17 2.9 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 18 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any 19 other outside counsel. 20 2.10 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 21 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 22 2.11 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 23 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this 24 Action and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are 25 affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, 26 and includes support staff. 27 2.12 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 1 Record (and their support staffs). 2 2.13 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 3 Discovery Material in this Action. 4 2.14 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 5 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing 6 exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in 7 any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 8 2.15 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 9 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – 10 ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” 11 2.16 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 12 Material from a Producing Party. 14 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 15 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 16 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 17 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 18 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 20 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 21 CONFIDENTIAL or HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this 22 protective order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be 23 presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless 24 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are 25 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of 26 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” 27 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 1 For material or information that does not become public at trial, after final 2 disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this Order 3 shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court 4 orders otherwise. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal 5 of all claims and defenses in this Action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final 6 judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, 7 remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits for filing any 8 motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 10 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 11 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 12 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 13 qualifies under the appropriate standards. To the extent it is practical to do so, the 14 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, 15 documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify – so that other 16 portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection 17 is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 18 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 19 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 20 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 21 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 22 Party to sanctions. 23 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items 24 that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection at all or do not qualify 25 for the level of protection initially asserted, that Designating Party must promptly 26 notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 27 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 1 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 2 the material is disclosed or produced. 3 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 4 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 5 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 6 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES 8 ONLY” to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions 9 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must 10 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 11 margins) and must specify, for each portion, the level of protection asserted. 12 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 13 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 14 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 15 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 16 deemed “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” After the 17 inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the 18 Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for 19 protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the 20 Producing Party must affix the appropriate legend (“CONFIDENTIAL” or 21 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY”) to each page that 22 contains Protected Material. 23 (b) for testimony given in a deposition or in other pretrial or trial 24 proceedings, that the Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of 25 the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding, whenever possible, all protected 26 testimony and specify the level of protection being asserted. 27 (1) However, a party may designate portions of depositions as containing 1 have until fourteen (14) days after receipt of the deposition transcript to inform the 2 other party or parties to the action of the portions of the transcript to be designated 3 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES 4 ONLY.” 5 (2) The use of a document as an exhibit at a deposition shall not in any way 6 affect its designation as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – 7 ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” Transcripts containing Protected Material shall 8 have an obvious legend on the title page that the transcript contains Protected 9 Material, and the title page shall be followed by a list of all pages (including line 10 numbers as appropriate) that have been designated as Protected Material and the 11 level of protection being asserted by the Designating Party. The Designating Party 12 shall inform the court reporter of these requirements. 13 (3) The Designating Party will have the right to exclude from attendance at 14 the deposition, during such time as the confidential information is to be disclosed, 15 any person other than the deponent, counsel (including their staff and associates), 16 the court reporter, and the person(s) agreed upon pursuant to paragraphs 7.2 and 7.3 17 below. 18 (4) The originals of the deposition transcripts and all copies of the 19 deposition must bear the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY 20 CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY,” as appropriate, and the original 21 or any copy ultimately presented to a court for filing must not be filed unless it can 22 be accomplished under seal, identified as being subject to this Order, and protected 23 from being opened except by order of this Court. 24 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 25 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 26 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 27 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES 1 Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 2 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 3 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 4 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 5 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 6 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 7 Order. 9 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 10 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 11 Scheduling Order. 12 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party objecting to confidentiality 13 must notify, in writing, counsel for the Designating Party of the objected-to 14 materials and the grounds for the objection. If the dispute is not resolved 15 consensually between the parties within seven (7) days of receipt of such a notice of 16 objections, the Challenging Party may move the Court for a ruling on the objection, 17 in accordance with the procedure set forth in Local Rules 37.1, et seq. The materials 18 at issue must be treated as confidential information, as designated by the designating 19 party, until the Court has ruled on the objection or the matter has been otherwise 20 resolved. 21 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 22 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 23 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 24 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 25 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 26 continue to afford the materials in question the level of protection to which it is 27 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 2 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 3 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 4 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 5 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 6 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 7 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 9 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 10 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 11 authorized under this Order. 12 7.2. Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 13 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 14 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 15 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 16 (a) The Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 17 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 18 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 19 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 20 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 21 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 22 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 23 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 24 (d) the Court and its personnel; 25 (e) court reporters and their staff; 26 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 27 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 1 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 2 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 3 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 4 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 5 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they 6 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 7 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 8 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 9 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 10 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 11 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; 12 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 13 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions; and 14 (j) any other person with the prior written consent of the Designating Party 15 or by Order of this Court. 16 7.3 Disclosure of “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES 17 ONLY” Information or Items. A higher level of protection shall be provided for 18 trade secrets and highly sensitive research, development or commercial documents, 19 testimony, information, or other materials designated “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL 20 – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or 21 permitted in writing by the Designating Party, access to material designated 22 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” shall be restricted to 23 the following individuals: 24 (a) Outside Counsel of Record for the Parties as well as employees of 25 said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 26 information to assist such attorneys in connection with the Action; 27 (b) Experts (as defined in this Order) used by Outside Counsel of 1 Action; and (2) who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 2 Bound” (Exhibit A); 3 (c) court reporters and their staff; 4 (d) the Court and its personnel; 5 (e) professional jury or trial consultants, and Professional Vendors to 6 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 7 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 8 (f) authors and recipients of the Confidential Material; 9 (g) a fact deposition witness or a trial witness that meets the limitations 10 of Section (f) above; any 30(b)(6) deposition witness presented by the Designating 11 Party; any trial witness, provided that the Designated Material marked “HIGHLY 12 CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” has been or will be offered into 13 evidence, by stipulation of the Designating Party or by ruling by the Court; attorneys 14 for those witnesses; and if disclosure is reasonably necessary, provided: (1) the 15 deposing and/or examining party requests that the witness sign the form attached as 16 Exhibit A hereto; and (2) the witness will not be permitted to keep any confidential 17 information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 18 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the 19 court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 20 reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may 21 not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective 22 Order; 23 (h) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 24 mutually agreed upon by the parties engaged in settlement discussions, subject to 25 their agreement to maintain confidentiality to the same degree as required by this 26 Protective Order; and 27 (i) any other person with the prior written consent of the Designating 3 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 4 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 5 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES 6 ONLY,” that Party must: 7 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 8 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 9 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 10 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 11 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 12 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 13 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 14 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 15 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 16 the subpoena or Court Order shall not produce any information designated in this 17 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ 18 EYES ONLY” before a determination by the Court from which the subpoena or 19 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 20 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that 21 Court of its confidential material, and nothing in these provisions should be 22 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey 23 a lawful directive from another court. 26 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 27 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY 1 Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief 2 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as 3 prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 4 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 5 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 6 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 7 confidential information, then the Party shall: 8 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non- 9 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 10 agreement with a Non-Party; 11 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 12 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 13 specific description of the information requested; and 14 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 15 Non-Party, if requested. 16 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 17 fourteen (14) days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the 18 Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive 19 to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the 20 Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is 21 subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination 22 by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 23 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 25 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 26 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 27 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 1 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 2 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 3 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 4 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 8 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 9 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 10 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever 11 procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 12 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and 13 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 14 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 15 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 16 protective order submitted to the court. 18 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 19 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 20 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 21 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 22 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground, including, but not 23 limited to, the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine, not addressed in 24 this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on 25 any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 26 Order. 27 12.3. Filing Protected Material in Court. Before any Protected Material, 1 interrogatories, responses to requests for admissions, deposition transcripts, or other 2 documents which are designated as CONFIDENTIAL or HIGHLY 3 CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORENYS EYES ONLY are filed with the Court for any 4 purpose, the party seeking to file such material must seek permission of the Court to 5 file the material under seal. The filing party must comply with Local Rule 79-5 and 6 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for that purpose. If a Party’s request to file 7 Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may 8 file the information in the public record, unless otherwise instructed by the Court. 10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 11 sixty (60) days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party 12 must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. 13 As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 14 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 15 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the 16 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if 17 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the sixty (60) day 18 deadline that (1) confirms that all the Protected Material that was returned or 19 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 20 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 21 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 22 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 23 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 24 reports, attorney work product, documents produced, and consultant and expert 25 work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival 26 copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective 27 Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 1|| XIV. VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 3 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 4 || sanctions. 5 6 || IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 7 8 || Dated: February 27, 2025 BROWN, NERI, SMITH & KHAN LLP 9 10 By: j Vo jad M. Khan 11 Thomas C. Rickeman 12 Attorneys for Defendant 13 14 I, Amjad Khan, am the ECF user whose user ID and password authorized the 15 || filing of this document. Pursuant to L.R. 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), I attest that all signatories 16 oe to this document have concurred and authorized this filing. 17 18 19 Dated: February 27, 2025 KUTAK ROCK LLP 20 By: /s/ Shelby L. Morbach 1 Brian J. Wagner Chad T. Nitta 22 Shelby L. Morbach 23 Attorneys for Plaintiff 24 25 26 27 28

1 | FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 □ 3 ||Dated: 2/28/2025 Rea pel fs, □□ ‘ Oe 4 Hon. Rozella A. Oliver 5 U.S. Magistrate Judge 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

3 4 I, __________________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 __________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California 8 on __________ [date] in the case of Core Focus Consulting 2, LLC v. RenewAge 9 Energy Solutions, Inc., Case No. 2:24-cv-01809-CV-RAO. I agree to comply with 10 and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand 11 and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 12 punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in 13 any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 14 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 15 Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 17 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 18 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 19 termination of this action. I hereby appoint _________________________ [print or 20 type full name] of ______________________________ [print or type full address 21 and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection 22 with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated 23 Protective Order. 24 Date: ___________________________________ 25 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 26 Printed name: _____________________________ 27 Signature: ________________________________