Donyae Haley v. City of Los Angeles

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: March 4, 2025
• Docket: 2:24-cv-10645
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

2 NOTE: CHANGES MADE BY THE COURT

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 DONYAE HALEY, CASE NO. CV24-10645-MWF-JPRx Hon. Michael W Fitzgerald– Ctrm. 5A 12 Hon. Jean P. Rosenbluth– Ctrm. 880

13 Plaintiff, PROTECTIVE 14 v. ORDER

15 16 CITY OF LOS ANGELES, OFFICER GONZALEZ, OFFICER 17 MASTROCINQUE, AND DOE OFFICERS 1-10, 18 Defendants. 19

20 21 22 1. INTRODUCTION 23 1.1 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 24 Discovery in this action may involve production of confidential, 25 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 26 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 27 Accordingly, the Parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following 1 Stipulated Protective Order. The Parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer 2 blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it 3 affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items 4 that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The 5 Parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3 below, that this Order does not 6 entitle them to file Confidential Information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth 7 the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 8 Party seeks permission from the Court to file material under seal. 9 1.2 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 10 The parties represent that discovery in this case will involve the production of 11 confidential records (including but not limited to employment/personnel records1 and 12 information2 of individually named Defendants and/or other employees of the County). 13 In addition, Defendants anticipate conducting discovery as to any potential criminal 14 history of Plaintiff and/or decedent, which may include disclosure of sealed, 15 confidential or otherwise sensitive information. In order to expedite the flow of 16 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of 17 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep 18 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such 19 material in connection with this action, to address their handling of such material at the 20 end of the litigation, and to serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 21 information is justified in this matter. The parties shall not designate any 22 information/documents as confidential without a good faith belief that such 23 information/documents have been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and 24 25 1 “Government personnel files are considered official information.” Sanchez v. City of Santa Ana (9th Cir.1990) 936 F.2d 1027, 1033; Miller v. Pancucci(C.D. Cal. 1992) 141 F.R.D. 292, 299. 26 2 See Ochoa v. McDonald’s Corp., 2015 WL 3545921, at *2 (N.D. Cal. 27 June 5, 2015), in which the court granted a request to seal specified documents to the extent they reflected employee numbers/identification. 1 that there is good cause or a compelling reason why it should not be part of the public 2 record of this case. 3 2. DEFINITIONS 4 2.1 Action: Donyae Haley v. the City of Los Angeles, et. al., USDC Case No. 5 2:24-cv-10645-MWF-JPRx. 6 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Nonparty that challenges the designation 7 of information or items under this Order. 8 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 9 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection 10 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and as specified above in the Good Cause 11 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 Nonparty that designates information or items 15 that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 16 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 17 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 18 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 19 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 20 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 21 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 22 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 23 an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 24 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party to this Action. 25 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 26 counsel. 27 2.9 Nonparty: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 1 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 2 Party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a Party and have appeared 3 in this Action on behalf of that Party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 4 appeared on behalf of that Party, including support staff. 5 2.11 Party: any Party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 6 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 7 support staffs). 8 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Nonparty that produces Disclosure or 9 Discovery Material in this Action. 10 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 11 support services (for example, photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing 12 exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or 13 medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 14 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated 15 as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 16 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 17 Material from a Producing Party. 18 3. SCOPE 19 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 20 Protected Material (as defined above) but also any information copied or extracted 21 from Protected Material; all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 22 Protected Material; and any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or 23 their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 24 Any use of Protected Material at trial will be governed by the orders of the 25 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 26 4. DURATION 27 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 1 this Order will remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing 2 or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition is the later of (1) dismissal of all 3 claims and defenses in this Action, with or without prejudice, or (2) final judgment 4 after the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or 5 reviews of this Action, including the time limits for filing any motions or 6 applications for extension of time under applicable law. 7 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 8 5.1 Each Party or Nonparty that designates information or items for 9 protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific 10 material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. To the extent practicable, the 11 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, 12 documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that other 13 portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection 14 is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 15 Indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that 16 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose 17 (for example, to unnecessarily encumber the case-development process or to impose 18 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 19 Party to sanctions. 20 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items it 21 designated for protection do not qualify for that level of protection, that Designating 22 Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 23 designation. 24 5.2 Except as otherwise provided in this Order, Disclosure or Discovery 25 Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated 26 before the material is disclosed or produced. 27 Designation in conformity with this Order requires the following: 1 documents but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 2 proceedings), the Producing Party must affix at a minimum the legend 3 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion 4 or portions of the material on a page qualify for protection, the Producing Party 5 should to the extent practicable clearly identify the protected portion(s) (for 6 example, by making appropriate markings in the margins). 7 A Party or Nonparty that makes original documents available for 8 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 9 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 10 inspection and before the designation, all material made available for inspection 11 must be treated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 12 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 13 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 14 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 15 “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 16 portion or portions of the material on a page qualify for protection, the Producing 17 Party should to the extent practical clearly identify the protected portion(s) (for 18 example, by making appropriate markings in the margins). 19 (b) for testimony given in depositions, the Designating Party must identify 20 the Disclosure or Discovery Material that is protected on the record, before the close 21 of the deposition. 22 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 23 any other tangible items, the Producing Party must affix in a prominent place on the 24 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 25 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrant 26 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, must identify the protected 27 portion(s). 1 information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to 2 secure protection under this Order for that material. On timely correction of a 3 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the 4 material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 6.1 Any Party or Nonparty may challenge a designation of confidentiality 7 at any time consistent with the Court’s scheduling order. 8 6.2 The Challenging Party must initiate the dispute-resolution process (and, 9 if necessary, file a discovery motion) under Local Rule 37. 10 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such proceeding is on the Designating 11 Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (for example, 12 to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), may expose 13 the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or 14 withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties must continue to afford the 15 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the 16 Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 17 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 19 produced by another Party or by a Nonparty in connection with this Action only for 20 prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material 21 may be disclosed only to the categories of people and under the conditions described 22 in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply 23 with the provisions of Section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 24 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 25 location and in a manner sufficiently secure to ensure that access is limited to the 26 people authorized under this Order. 27 7.2 Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the 1 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to the following people: 2 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 3 well as employees of that Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 4 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 5 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 6 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 7 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 8 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 9 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 10 (d) the Court and its personnel; 11 (e) court reporters and their staff; 12 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 13 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 14 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 15 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 16 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 17 (h) during their depositions, witnesses and attorneys for witnesses to 18 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary, provided that the deposing party requests 19 that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto and the witnesses will 20 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the form, 21 unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of 22 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 23 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 24 anyone except as permitted under this Order; and 25 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 26 mutually agreed on by any of the Parties engaged in settlement discussions or 27 appointed by the Court. 1 OTHER LITIGATION 2 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 3 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 4 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must 5 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 6 must include a copy of the subpoena or court order unless prohibited by law; 7 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 8 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 9 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification must include 10 a copy of this Order; and 11 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 12 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 13 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 14 the subpoena or court order should not produce any information designated in this 15 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination on the protective-order request 16 by the relevant court unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 17 permission. The Designating Party bears the burden and expense of seeking 18 protection of its Confidential Material, and nothing in these provisions should be 19 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey 20 a lawful directive from another court. 21 9. A NONPARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 22 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 23 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 24 Nonparty in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information is 25 protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these 26 provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Nonparty from seeking additional 27 protections. 1 produce a Nonparty’s Confidential Information in its possession and the Party is 2 subject to an agreement with the Nonparty not to produce the Nonparty’s 3 Confidential Information, then the Party must 4 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Nonparty that 5 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 6 agreement with a Nonparty; 7 (2) promptly provide the Nonparty with a copy of this Order, the 8 relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 9 information requested; and 10 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 11 Nonparty, if requested. 12 (c) If the Nonparty fails to seek a protective order within 21 days of 13 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 14 produce the Nonparty’s Confidential Information responsive to the discovery 15 request. If the Nonparty timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party must 16 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 17 confidentiality agreement with the Nonparty before a ruling on the protective-order 18 request. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Nonparty must bear the burden 19 and expense of seeking protection of its Protected Material. 20 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 If a Receiving Party learns that by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 22 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 23 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately notify the Designating Party in writing 24 of the unauthorized disclosures, use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized 25 copies of the Protected Material, inform the person or people to whom unauthorized 26 disclosures were made of the terms of this Order, and ask that person or people to 27 execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto 1 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 2 PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 4 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 5 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 6 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). 7 12. MISCELLANEOUS 8 12.1 Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its 9 modification by the Court. 10 12.2 By stipulating to the entry of this Order, no Party waives any right it 11 otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or item 12 on any ground not addressed in this Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to 13 object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this 14 Order. 15 12.3 A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must 16 comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may be filed under seal only 17 pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at 18 issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material under seal is denied, then the 19 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise 20 instructed by the Court. 21 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 22 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 23 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 24 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 25 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 26 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 27 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 1 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 2 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that identifies (by 3 category, when appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 4 destroyed and affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 5 compilations, summaries, or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 6 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an 7 archival copy of all pleadings; motion papers; trial, deposition, and hearing 8 transcripts; legal memoranda; correspondence; deposition and trial exhibits; expert 9 reports; attorney work product; and consultant and expert work product even if such 10 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 11 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Order as set forth in Section 4 12 (DURATION). 13 14. SANCTIONS 14 Any willful violation of this Order may be punished by civil or criminal 15 contempt, financial or evidentiary sanctions, reference to disciplinary authorities, or 16 other appropriate action at the discretion of the Court. 17 18 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 19 20 Dated: March 4, 2025 Kirakosian Law APC 21 By: /s/ Gregory Levon Kirakosian 22 Gregory Levon Kirakosian Attorney for Plaintiff, Donyae Haley 23

25 Dated: March 4, 2025 HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, City Attorney DENISE C. MILLS, Chief Deputy City Attorney 26 KATHLEEN KENEALY, Chief Assistant City Attorney 27 CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Assistant City Attorney 1 By: _/s/ Emily S. Cohew EMILY S. COHEN, Deputy City Attorney 3 Attorneys for Defendants, CITY OF LOS ANGELES, 4 MOISES GONZALEZ, and PETER MASTROCINQUE 5 6 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. fe PrenMtl~ 8 || DATED: 3/4/2025 9 HON. JEAN P. ROSENBLUTH UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 ATTESTATION RE ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES 14 15 Pursuant to Local Rule 5 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(1), I attest that the other signatories listed, 16 and on whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have 17 |! authorized the filing. 18 19 || Dated: March 2025 HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, City Attorney DENISE C. MILLS, Chief Deputy City Attorney 20 KATHLEEN KENEALY, Chief Assistant City Attorney CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Assistant City Attorney 22 By: _/s/ Emily S. Cohew 23 EMILY S. COHEN, Deputy City Attorney A Attorneys for Defendants, CITY OF LOS ANGELES, MOISES GONZALEZ, and PETER MASTROCINQUE 25 26 27 28 13

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ 4 [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the U.S. District Court 6 for the Central District of California on [date] in the case of Donyae Haley v. City of 7 Los Angeles, et al, Case No. 2:24-cv-10645-MWF-JPR. I agree to comply with and to 8 be bound by all terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, and I understand and 9 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment, 10 including contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any 11 information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or 12 entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the 14 Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 15 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 16 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [full 17 name] of _______________________________________ [full address and 18 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 19 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 20 Order. 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 City and State where signed: _________________________________ 23 Printed name: _______________________________ 24 Signature: __________________________________ 25 26 27