Eric Henry Saldivar v. Riverside Police Dept. and Local Riverside Police Agentcies

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: September 19, 2023
• Docket: 2:20-cv-02081
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

MICHEL F. MILLS, SBN# 193002 1 THE LAW OFFICES OF MICHEL F. MILLS 155 N. Riverview Drive, Suite 208 2 Anaheim Hills, CA 92808 T. 714.769.9051 3 F. 714.685.1500 Michel@mfmillslaw.com 4 Attorneys for Plaintiff 5 PHAEDRA A. NORTON, City Attorney, SBN 200271 6 REBECCA L. MCKEE, Assistant City Attorney, SBN 289485 DEBRA K. COOK, Deputy City Attorney, SBN 250114 CECILIA ROJAS, Deputy City Attorney, SBN 340468 7 JUDITH L. GALLARDO, Deputy City Attorney, SBN 297688 OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY – CITY OF RIVERSIDE 8 3750 University Avenue, Suite 250 Riverside, CA 92501 9 Telephone (951) 826-5567 Facsimile (951) 826-5540 10 Attorneys for Defendants POLICE OFFICERS EVAN WRIGHT, ABEL SORIA 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 14 15 ERIC H. SALDIVAR, CASE No.: 2:20-cv-02081-CAS-PD 16 Plaintiff, [Assigned to Hon. Christina A. Snyder, 17 v. Courtroom: 8D] Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue 18 POLICE OFFICERS EVAN WRIGHT, ABEL SORIA, et al. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 19 Defendant(s). ORDER 20 21 22 23 24 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, or 26 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 27 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 1 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order 2 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery 3 and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to 4 the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under 5 the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in 6 Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to 7 file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 8 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 9 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 10 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 This action involves the officer-involved shooting of Decedent Ernie 12 Saldivar on March 8, 2018 for which special protection from public disclosure and 13 from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 14 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other 15 things, confidential medical records, personnel records, and use of force 16 investigation and review records (including information implicating privacy rights 17 of third parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or 18 which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or 19 federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to 20 expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes 21 over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 22 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 23 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of 24 trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of 25 justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the 26 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 27 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that 1 cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 2 2. DEFINITIONS 3 2.1 Action: This pending federal law suit. 4 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 5 designation of information or items under this Order. 6 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 7 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 8 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 9 the Good Cause Statement. 10 2.4 Counsel: Counsel of Record (as well as their support staff). 11 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information 12 or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 13 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 14 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 15 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 16 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that 17 are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 18 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a 19 matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to 20 serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 21 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, 22 or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 23 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 24 party to this action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and 25 have appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 26 which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 27 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, 1 their support staffs). 2 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 3 Discovery Material in this action. 4 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 5 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits 6 or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or 7 medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 8 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 9 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 10 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 11 Material from a Producing Party. 12 3. SCOPE 13 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 14 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 15 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 16 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 17 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 18 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 19 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Materials at trial. 20 4. DURATION 21 Once a case proceeds to trial, all the information that was designated as 22 confidential or maintained under this Order becomes public and will be 23 presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless 24 the trial judge finds compelling reasons to proceed otherwise. See Kamakana v. 25 City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing 26 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 27 “compelling reasons” needed for merits-related documents). Accordingly, the 1 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for 3 Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for 4 protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific 5 material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party 6 must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 7 oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 8 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are 9 not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 10 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. 11 Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for 12 an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case 13 development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 14 parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 15 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that 16 it designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party 17 must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 18 designation. 19 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided 20 in this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 21 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for 22 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is 23 disclosed or produced. 24 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 25 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 26 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 27 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” 1 material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 2 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 3 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 4 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for 5 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party 6 has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 7 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 8 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 9 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 10 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 11 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must 12 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected 13 Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 14 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by 15 making appropriate markings in the margins). 16 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 17 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 18 deposition all protected testimony. 19 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 20 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 21 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 22 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information 23 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify 24 the protected portion(s). 25 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 26 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 27 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 1 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 2 provisions of this Order. 3 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 4 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 5 designation of confidentiality at any time consistent with the Court’s Scheduling 6 Order. 7 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 8 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 9 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be 10 on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 11 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 12 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 13 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 14 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 15 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 16 challenge. 17 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that 19 is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with 20 this case only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. 21 Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and 22 under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been 23 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 24 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 25 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 26 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 27 authorized under this Order. 1 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 2 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 3 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 4 (a) the Receiving Party’s Counsel of Record in this action, as well as 5 employees of said Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 6 disclose the information for this Action; 7 (b) the officers, directors, and employees of the Receiving Party to 8 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 9 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 10 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 11 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 12 (d) the Court and its personnel; 13 (e) court reporters and their staff; 14 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 15 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who 16 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 17 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 18 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 19 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 20 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 21 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 22 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign 23 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless 24 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 25 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 26 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and designated as 27 confidential clearly on the transcript cover, and may not be disclosed to anyone 1 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 2 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 3 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 4 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 5 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other 6 litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this 7 Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 8 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 9 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 10 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 11 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 12 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 13 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 14 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 15 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 16 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 17 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in 18 this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which 19 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating 20 Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 21 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these 22 provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in 23 this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 24 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 25 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 26 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 27 Non-Party in this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 1 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 2 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 3 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 4 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 5 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 6 confidential information, then the Party shall: 7 1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non- 8 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 9 agreement with a Non-Party; 10 2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 11 Protective Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a 12 reasonably specific description of the information requested; and 13 3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 14 Non-Party. 15 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this 16 Court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the 17 Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive 18 to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order , the 19 Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that 20 is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 21 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party 22 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its 23 Protected Material. 24 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 25 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 26 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 27 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) 1 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 2 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all 3 the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 4 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit 5 A. 6 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 7 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 8 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 9 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 10 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal 11 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 12 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 13 production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 14 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of 15 disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client 16 privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 17 in the Stipulated Protective Order submitted to the Court. 18 12. MISCELLANEOUS 19 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of 20 any person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 21 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 22 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 23 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground 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. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 1 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of 2 the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Receiving Party’s request to file 3 Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then the Receiving Party 4 may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the 5 Court. 6 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 7 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 8 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must 9 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 10 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 11 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of 12 the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 13 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party 14 (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 15 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected 16 Material that was returned or destroyed and (2)affirms that the Receiving Party 17 has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other 18 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding 19 this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, 20 motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 21 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work 22 product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 23 Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected 24 Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 25 (DURATION). 26 14. VIOLATION 27 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 1 || sanctions. 2 | IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 4 Respectfully Submitted, DATED: September 18,2023 THE LAW OFFICES OF MICHEL F. MILLS 7 By: _/s/Michel F. Mills MICHEL F. MILLS 8 Attorneys for Plaintiff Eric Saldivar 10 DATED: September 18, 2023 OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY 11 By: _/s/Debra K. Cook 12 DEBRA K. COOK 13 CECILIA ROJAS JUDITH GALLARDO 14 Attorneys for Defendants EVAN WRIGHT 15 and ABEL SORIA 16 7 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 . Foliar Marna koe_ DATED: September 19, 2023 20 Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 ____________________________________ [print or type full address], declare 6 under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the 7 Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for 8 the Central District of California on ________________[date] in the case of 9 Saldivar v. Wright and Soria; Case No.: 2:20-cv-02081-CAS-PD. I agree to 10 comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order 11 and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to 12 sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I 13 will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this 14 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance 15 with the provisions of this Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 17 Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms 18 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 19 after termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ 20 [print or type full name] of _______________________________________ [print 21 or type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of 22 process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement 23 of this Stipulated Protective Order. 24 25 Date: __________________ Signature: ______________________________ 26 Printed Name: ______________________________ 27