Corey Woodard v. City of Ontario; and Does 1 through 20 Inclusive

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: January 21, 2026
• Docket: 5:25-cv-02827
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 JJaOmNeEsS R M. TAoYucEhRst one, SBN 184584 2 jrt@jones-mayer.com Denise Lynch Rocawich, SBN 232792 3 dlr@jones-mayer.com 3777 North Harbor Boulevard 4 Fullerton, CA 92835 Telephone: (714) 446-1400 5 Facsimile: (714) 446-1448 6 Attorneys for Defendant, CITY OF ONTARIO 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 COREY WOODARD, an individual, Case No.: CV25-02827-JGB (MBK) 13 Judge: Hon. Jesus G Bernal Magistrate Judge: Hon. Michael Kaufman 14 Plaintiff, [PROPOSED] STIPULATED 15 vs. PROTECTIVE ORDER 16 17 CITY OF ONTARIO, a California public entity; and DOES 1 through 20 18 Inclusive, 19 20 Defendants. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -1 - 1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 Purposes and Limitations 3 Discovery in this action may involve production of confidential, proprietary, 4 or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 5 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 6 Accordingly, the Parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 7 following Stipulated Protective Order. The Parties acknowledge that this Order 8 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 9 that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 10 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the 11 applicable legal principles. The Parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12 12.3 below, that this Order does not entitle them to file Confidential Information 13 under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 14 and the standards that will be applied when a Party seeks permission from the Court 15 to file material under seal. 16 1.2 Good Cause Statement 17 The Parties represent that pre-trial discovery in this case is likely to include 18 the production of information and/or documents that are confidential and/or 19 privileged including the production of peace officer personnel file information 20 and/or documents which the Parties agree includes: (1) Personal data, including 21 marital status, family members, educational and employment history, home 22 addresses, or similar information; (2) Medical history; (3) Election of employee 23 benefits; (4) Employee advancement, appraisal, or discipline; and (5) Complaints, 24 or investigations of complaints, concerning an event or transaction in which a peace 25 officer participated, or which a peace officer perceived, and pertaining to the 26 manner in which the peace officer performed his or her duties including compelled 27 statements by peace officers unless specifically denoted as “not confidential” 28 pursuant to Penal Code section 832.7. Defendants contend that such information is 1 privileged as official information. Sanchez v. City of Santa Ana, 936 F.2d 1027, 2 1033 (9th Cir. Cal. 1990); see also Kerr v. United States Dist. Ct. for N.D. Cal., 511 3 F.2d 192, 198 (9th Cir.1975), aff'd, 426 U.S. 394, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 4 (1976). Further, discovery may require the production of certain San Bernardino 5 County Sheriffs’ Department Policies, Procedures and logs not available to the 6 public and the public disclosure of which could comprise officer safety, raise 7 security issues, and/or impede investigations. Peace officer personnel file 8 information and/or documents and security-sensitive policies and procedures are 9 hereinafter referred to as "Confidential Information". 10 Defendants contend that that public disclosure of such material poses a 11 substantial risk of embarrassment, oppression and/or physical harm to peace 12 officers whose Confidential Information is disclosed. The Parties further agree that 13 the risk of harm to peace officers is greater than with other government employees 14 due to the nature of their profession. Finally, the Defendants contend that the 15 benefit of public disclosure of Confidential Information is minimal while the 16 potential disadvantages are great. 17 Accordingly, good cause exists for entry of this Protective Order to facilitate 18 pre-trial disclosure while assuring the safety of these sensitive disclosures. See Fed. 19 R. Civ. Proc. 26(c). 20 21 2. DEFINITIONS 22 2.1 Action: Corey Woodard v. City of Ontario, Case No.: CV25-02827-JGB 23 (MBK), pending before the United States District Court, Central District of 24 California. 25 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Nonparty that challenges the designation 26 of information or items under this Order. 27 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 28 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 1 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and as specified above in the 2 Good Cause Statement. 3 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 4 their support staff). 5 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Nonparty that designates information or 6 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 7 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 8 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 9 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 10 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 11 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 12 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 13 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 14 an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 15 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party to this 16 Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 17 outside counsel. 18 2.9 Nonparty: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 19 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 20 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 21 Party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a Party and have 22 appeared in this Action on behalf of that Party or are affiliated with a law firm that 23 has appeared on behalf of that Party, including support staff. 24 2.11 Party: any Party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 25 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 26 support staffs). 27 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Nonparty that produces Disclosure or 28 Discovery Material in this Action. 1 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 2 support services (for example, photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing 3 exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form 4 or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 5 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 6 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 7 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 8 Material from a Producing Party.

9 3. SCOPE 10 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 11 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 12 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 13 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 14 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 15 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 16 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 17

18 4. DURATION 19 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced 20 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this 21 protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members 22 of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific 23 factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the 24 trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 25 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 26 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 27 28 1 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend 2 beyond the commencement of the trial. 3 4 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 6 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 7 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 8 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 9 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 10 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, 11 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 12 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 13 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 14 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 15 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to 16 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 17 Designating Party to sanctions. 18 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 19 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 20 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 21 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 22 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 23 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 24 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 25 produced. 26 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 27 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 28 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 1 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend 2 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 3 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 4 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 5 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 6 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 7 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 8 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 9 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 10 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 11 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine 12 which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. 13 Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 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 17 appropriate markings in the margins). 18 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party 19 identify the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 20 deposition. 21 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary 22 and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place 23 on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 24 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information 25 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 26 protected portion(s). 27 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 28 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 1 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 2 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make 3 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 4 provisions of this Order. 5 6 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 7 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 8 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 9 Scheduling Order. 10 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 11 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq, as modified by Judge Kaufman’s 12 Procedures. See https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-michael-b-kaufman. Any 13 discovery motion must strictly comply with these procedures. 14 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding 15 shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an 16 improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 17 other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 18 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 19 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled 20 under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 21 22 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 23 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 24 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 25 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 26 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 27 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 28 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 1 DISPOSITION). Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving 2 Party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the 3 persons authorized under this Order. 4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 5 otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 8 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 9 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) 12 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); (d) the Court and its 16 personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff; 18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 19 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 20 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 22 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 24 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 25 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 26 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 28 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed 1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 2 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 3 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 4 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 5 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 6 7 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 8 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 9 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 10 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 11 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 12 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 13 must include a copy of the subpoena or court order unless prohibited by law; 14 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 15 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 16 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification must include a copy of 17 this Order; and 18 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 19 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 20 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 21 the subpoena or court order should not produce any information designated in this 22 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination on the protective-order request 23 by the relevant court unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 24 permission. The Designating Party bears the burden and expense of seeking 25 protection of its Confidential Material, and nothing in these provisions should be 26 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey 27 a lawful directive from another court. 28 1 9. A NONPARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 4 Nonparty in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information is 5 protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these 6 provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Nonparty from seeking additional 7 protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required by a valid discovery request to 9 produce a Nonparty’s Confidential Information in its possession and the Party is 10 subject to an agreement with the Nonparty not to produce the Nonparty’s 11 Confidential Information, then the Party must: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Nonparty 13 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 14 with a Nonparty; 15 (2) promptly provide the Nonparty with a copy of this Order, the 16 relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 17 information requested; and 18 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 19 Nonparty, if requested. 20 (c) If the Nonparty fails to seek a protective order within 21 days of 21 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 22 produce the Nonparty’s Confidential Information responsive to the discovery 23 request. If the Nonparty timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party must 24 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 25 confidentiality agreement with the Nonparty before a ruling on the protective-order 26 request. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Nonparty must bear the burden and 27 expense of seeking protection of its Protected Material. 28 1 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 If a Receiving Party learns that by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 4 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately notify the Designating Party in writing 5 of the unauthorized disclosures, use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies 6 of the Protected Material, inform the person or people to whom unauthorized 7 disclosures were made of the terms of this Order, and ask that person or people to 8 execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto 9 as Exhibit A. 10 11 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 12 PROTECTED MATERIAL 13 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 14 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 15 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 16 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 17 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 18 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 19 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 20 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 21 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 22 to the Court. 23 24 12. MISCELLANEOUS 25 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 26 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 27 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 28 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 1 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in 2 this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on 3 any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 4 Order. 5 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 6 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material 7 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 8 specific Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file 9 under seal. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the 10 Court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless 11 otherwise instructed by the Court. 12 13 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 14 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request 15 by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to 16 the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all 17 Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any 18 other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the 19 Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a 20 written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to 21 the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 22 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms 23 that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, 24 summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 25 Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival 26 copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal 27 memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney 28 work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 1 | Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected 2 | Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 3 | (DURATION). 4 5 | 14. VIOLATION OF ORDER 6 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 7 | measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 8 || sanctions. 9 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 10 11 Dated: January 16, 2026 JONES MAYER 12 13 By:s/Denise Lynch Rocawich 14 JAMES R. TOUCHSTONE DENISE LYNCH ROCA WICH 15 Attorneys for Defendant City of Ontario 16 17 | Dated: January 16, 2026 POINTER & BUELNA, LLP LAWYERS FOR THE PEOPLE 18 19 20 By:s/Michael A. Slater ADANTE POINTER 21 PATRICK BUELNA MICHAEL A. SLATER 22 Counsel for Plaintiff Corey Woodard 23 IT IS SO ORDERED 24 . 25 LEC Dated: 01/21/2026 MICHAEL B. KAUFMAN 26 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 27 28 -14- STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

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 penalty of perjury that I 5 have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was 6 issue by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on 7 ____________ [Date] in the case of Corey Woodard v. City of Ontario, Case No. 8 CV25-02827-JGB (MBK). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms 9 of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to 10 so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. 11 I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item 12 that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in 13 strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 15 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 16 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 17 termination of this action. I hereby appoint [print or 18 type full name] of [print or type full address and 19 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 20 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 21 Order. 22 Date: 23 City and State where sworn and signed: 24 Printed Name: 25 Signature: 26 27 28