Edgar Solis v. County of Riverside

District Court, C.D. California·Decided August 31, 2023·No. 5:23-cv-00515·Unknown

Opinion

TONY M. SAIN, SB# 251626 E-Mail: Tony.Sain@lewisbrisbois.com TORI L.N. BAKKEN, SB# 329069 E-Mail: Tori.Bakken@lewisbrisbois.com ABIGAIL J. R. McLAUGHLIN, SB# 313208 E-Mail: Abigail.McLaughlin@lewisbrisbois.com 633 West 5th Street, Suite 4000 Los Angeles, California 90071 Telephone: 213.250.1800 NOTE: CHANGES MADE BY THE COURT Facsimile: 213.250.7900

Attorneys for Defendants, COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE and SALVADOR

EDGAR SOLIS, Case No. 5:23-CV-00515-HDV-JPRx

Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE vs. ORDER

SALVADOR WALTERMIRE, et al., Judge: Hernán D. Vera, Mag: Jean P. Rosenbluth Defendants. Setting Conf: May 8, 2023 Trial Date: None Set DISCOVERY MATTER

1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS. Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; local rules set forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 1.1. Contentions re Harm from Disclosure of Confidential Materials. Defendant contends that there is good cause and a particularized need for a protective order to preserve the interests of confidentiality and privacy in peace officer personnel file records and associated investigative or confidential records for the following reasons. First, Defendant contends that peace officers have a federal privilege of privacy in their personnel file records: a reasonable expectation of privacy therein that is underscored, specified, and arguably heightened by the Pitchess protective procedure of California law. See Sanchez v. Santa Ana Police Dept., 936 F.2d 1027, 1033-1034 (9th Cir. 1990); Hallon v. City of Stockton, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14665, *2-3, 12-13 (E.D. Cal. 2012) (concluding that “while “[f]ederal law applies to privilege based discovery disputes involving federal claims,” the “state privilege law which is consistent with its federal equivalent significantly assists in applying [federal] privilege law to discovery disputes”); Soto v. City of Concord, 162 F.R.D. 603, 613 n. 4, 616 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (peace officers have constitutionally-based “privacy rights [that] are not inconsequential” in their police personnel records); cf. Cal. Penal Code §§ 832.7, 832.8; Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1040-1047. Defendant further contends that uncontrolled disclosure of such personnel file information can threaten the safety of non-party witnesses, officers, and their families/associates. agencies have federal deliberative-executive process privilege, federal official information privilege, federal law enforcement privilege, and federal attorney-client privilege (and/or attorney work product protection) interests in the personnel files of their peace officers – particularly as to those portions of peace officer personnel files that contain critical self-analysis, internal deliberation/decision-making or evaluation/analysis, or communications for the purposes of obtaining or rendering legal advice or analysis – potentially including but not limited to evaluative/analytical portions of Internal Affairs type records or reports, evaluative/analytical portions of supervisory records or reports, and/or reports prepared at the direction of counsel, or for the purpose of obtaining or rendering legal advice. See Sanchez, 936 F.2d at 1033-1034; Maricopa Audubon Soc’y v. United States Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1089, 1092-1095 (9th Cir. 1997); Soto, 162 F.R.D. at 613, 613 n. 4; Kelly v. City of San Jose, 114 F.R.D. 654, 668-671 (N.D. Cal. 1987); Tuite v. Henry, 181 F.R.D. 175, 176-177 (D. D.C. 1998); Hamstreet v. Duncan, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89702 (D. Or. 2007); Admiral Ins. Co. v. United States Dist. Ct., 881 F.2d 1486, 1492, 1495 (9th Cir. 1988). Defendant further contends that such personnel file records are restricted from disclosure by the public entity’s custodian of records pursuant to applicable California law and that uncontrolled release is likely to result in needless intrusion of officer privacy; impairment in the collection of third-party witness information and statements and related legitimate law enforcement investigations/interests; and a chilling of open and honest discussion regarding and/or investigation into alleged misconduct that can erode a public entity’s ability to identify and/or implement any remedial measures that may be required. Third, Defendant contends that, since peace officers do not have the same rights as other private citizens to avoid giving compelled statements, it is contrary to the fundamental principles of fairness to permit uncontrolled release of officers’ 822, 828-830 (1985); cf. U.S. Const., amend V. Accordingly, Defendant contends that, without a protective order preventing such, production of confidential records in the case can and will likely substantially impair and harm defendant public entity’s interests in candid self-critical analysis, frank internal deliberations, obtaining candid information from witnesses, preserving the safety of witnesses, preserving the safety of peace officers and peace officers’ families and associates, protecting the privacy officers of peace officers, and preventing pending investigations from being detrimentally undermined by publication of private, sensitive, or confidential information – as can and often does result in litigation. 1.2. Plaintiff does not agree with and does not stipulate to Defendant’s contentions herein above, and nothing in this Stipulated Protective Order shall resolve the parties’ disagreement, or bind them, concerning the legal statements and claimed privileges set forth above. However, plaintiff agrees that there is Good Cause for a Protective Order so as to preserve the respective interests of the parties without the need to further burden the Court with such issues. Specifically, the parties jointly contend that, absent this Stipulated Protective Order, the parties' respective privilege interests may be impaired or harmed, and that this Stipulated Protective Order may avoid such harm by permitting the parties to facilitate discovery with reduced risk that privileged and/or sensitive/confidential information will become matters of public record. 1.3. The parties jointly contend that there is typically a particularized need for protection as to any medical records and autopsy photographs, because of the privacy interests at stake therein. Because of these sensitive interests, a Court Order should address these documents rather than a private agreement between the parties. 1.4. The parties therefore stipulate that there is Good Cause for, and hereby confidential documents consistent with the terms and provisions below. However, the entry of this Stipulated Protective Order by the Court shall not be construed as any ruling by the Court on the aforementioned legal statements or privilege claims in this section (§ 1), nor shall this section be construed as part of any such Court Order. 2. DEFINITIONS. 2.1. Action: This pending federal lawsuit, captioned above. 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order. 2.3. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of the medium or how generated, stor

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Edgar Solis v. County of Riverside, (C.D. Cal. 2023).

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