Estate of Kaushal Niroula v. Riverside County Sheriffs Department

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: February 23, 2024
• Docket: 5:23-cv-01739
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 DGeAnSisTseÉ LOU. GMa sLtéAluWm,, ASBPNC 282771 CThHrEis tLiaAn WCo OntFreFraICs, ESSB NO F3 30269 2 A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION CHRISTIAN CONTRERAS 3767 Worsham Ave. PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION 3 Long Beach, California 90808 360 E. 2nd St., 8th Floor Tel: (213) 340-6112 Los Angeles, California 90012 4 Fax: (213) 402-8622 Tel: (323) 435-8000 Email: dgastelum@gastelumfirm.com Fax: (323) 597-0101 5 Email: CC@Contreras-Law.com

Attorneys for Plaintiffs, 6 ESTATE OF KAUSHAL NIROULA, by and through successors in interest, Radha 7 Niroula and Krishna Niroula; RADHA NIROULA, individually; KRISHNA NIROULA, individually 8

9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

10 THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

11 ESTATE OF KAUSHAL NIROULA, ) CASE NO. 5:23-cv-01739-JGB-SK 12 ) [Assigned to the Hon. Jesus G. Bernal, by and through successors in interest, ) District Judge; Referred to the Hon. Steven 13 Radha Niroula and Krishna Niroula; ) Kim, Magistrate Judge] RADHA NIROULA, individually; ) 14 KRISHNA NIROULA, individually, ) ) 15 Plaintiffs, ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER ) 16 v. ) ) 17 ) COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE, a public ) 18 entity; RIVERSIDE COUNTY ) SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT; ) 19 ) SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO, in his ) 20 individual and official capacities; ) EDWARD DELGADO; JAMES ) 21 ) KRACHMER; DAVID HOLM; ) 22 RONALD SANCHEZ; and DOES 1 ) through 10, individually, jointly and ) 23 ) severally, ) 24 Defendants. ) ) 25 ) ) 26

28 1 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be 4 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter 5 the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order 6 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 7 that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 8 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 9 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3 (Filing 10 Protected Material), below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them 11 to a file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 12 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party 13 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 14 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 15 Plaintiffs and the individual Defendants may produce certain documents in this 16 case that contain personal medical, employment or financial information. Such 17 information may implicate the privacy interests of the party and are properly 18 protected through a Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) protective order. Seattle Times Co. v. 19 Rhinehart, 467 U.S. 20, 35 n.21 (1984) (“Rule 26(c) includes among its express 20 purposes the protection of a ‘party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, 21 oppression or undue burden or expense.’ Although the Rule contains no specific 22 reference to privacy or to other rights or interests that may be implicated, such 23 matters are implicit in the broad purpose and language of the Rule.”); Soto v. City of 24 Concord, 162 F.R.D. 603, 617 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (a party’s privacy rights are to be 25 protected through a “carefully crafted protective order.”). 26 2. DEFINITIONS 27 2.1 Action: This pending federal law suit, Estate of Kaushal Niroula v. 28 1 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 2 of information or items under this Order. 3 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 4 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 5 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the 6 Good Cause Statement. 7 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 8 their support staff). 9 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 10 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 11 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 12 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 13 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 14 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 15 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 16 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 17 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 18 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 19 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 20 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 21 counsel. 22 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 23 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 24 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 25 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 26 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which 27 has appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff. 28 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 1 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 2 support staffs). 3 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 4 Discovery Material in this Action. 5 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 6 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 7 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 8 and their employees and subcontractors. 9 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 10 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 11 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 12 from a Producing Party. 13 3. SCOPE 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 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 Material at trial. 20 4. DURATION 21 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as 22 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will 23 be 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” 28 1 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 2 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 3 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 4 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material 5 for Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 6 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 7 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 8 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 9 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, 10 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 11 within the ambit of this Order. 12 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 13 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 14 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 15 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 16 Party to sanctions. 17 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 18 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 19 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 20 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 21 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of Section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 22 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 23 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 24 produced. 25 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 26 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 27 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 28 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 1 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 2 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 3 portion(s) (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 has 6 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection 7 and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 8 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents 9 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 10 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing 11 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 12 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of 13 the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 14 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 15 margins). Markings added to documents pursuant to this paragraph shall not obscure 16 the content or text of the documents produced. 17 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify 18 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition 19 all protected testimony. The court reporter must affix to each such transcript page 20 containing Protected Material the “CONFIDENTIAL legend”, as instructed by the 21 Designating Party. (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 22 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 23 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 warrants 25 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 26 portion(s). 27 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 28 1 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 2 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 3 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 4 Order. 5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 7 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 8 Scheduling Order. 9 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party Shall initiate the dispute 10 resolution process under Civil Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 11 6.3 Burden of Persuasion 12 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 13 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 14 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), may 15 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 16 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the 17 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the 18 Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 19 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 20 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 21 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 22 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 23 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 24 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 25 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of Section 13 below (FINAL 26 DISPOSITION). 27 28 1 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 2 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 3 4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 5 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 6 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 7 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 8 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 9 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 10 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 11 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 12 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 13 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 14 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 15 (d) the Court and its personnel; 16 (e) court reporters and their staff; 17 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 18 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 19 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 20 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 21 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 22 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 23 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 24 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 25 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 26 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed 27 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 28 1 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 2 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 3 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 4 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 5 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 6 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 7 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 8 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 9 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 10 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 11 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 12 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 13 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 14 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 15 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 16 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 17 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 18 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 19 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 20 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 21 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 22 protection in that court of its confidential material, and nothing in these provisions 23 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in 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 28 1 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 2 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 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-Party 8 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 9 with a Non-Party; 10 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 11 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 12 specific description of the information requested; and 13 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 14 Party, if requested. 15 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 16 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 17 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 18 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 19 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 20 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. 21 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 22 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 23 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 24 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 25 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 26 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 27 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 28 1 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 2 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 3 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 4 PROTECTED MATERIAL When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 5 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 6 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 7 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 8 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 9 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 10 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 11 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 12 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 13 to the Court. 14 12. MISCELLANEOUS 15 12.1 Right to Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person 16 to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 17 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 18 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 19 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 20 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 21 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 22 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 23 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 24 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 25 Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal 26 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 27 record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 28 1 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 2 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in Section 4 3 (DURATION), within 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy 4 such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all 5 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 6 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned 7 or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 8 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 9 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material 10 that was returned or destroyed; and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not 11 retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, or any other format 12 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this 13 provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion 14 papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, 15 deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant 16 and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 17 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this 18 Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 19 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 20 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 21 sanctions. 22 23 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 24 25 Dated: February 23, 2024 GASTÉLUM LAW, APC

26 By: /s/ Denisse O. Gastélum 27 Denisse O. Gastélum, Esq. Attorneys for Plaintiffs, 28 ] 2 || Dated: February 23, 2024 LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTIAN CONTRERAS 4 A Professional Law Corporation 4 oe By: /s/ Christian Contreras 5 Christian Contreras, Esq. 6 Attorneys for Plaintiffs, ESTATE OF KAUSHAL NIROULA 7 8 g || Dated: February 23, 2024 BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 10 ll By:/s/ Caylin W. Jones Nathan A. Oyster 12 Caylin W. Jones 13 Attorneys for Defendants COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE, SHERIFF CHAD 14 BIANCO, EDWARD DELGADO, JAMES KRACHMER AND DAVID HOLM 15 16 17 18 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 99 || DATED: February 23, 2024 21 Sen ee FT : 99 || & pekilt Honorable Steve Kim 23 || United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27 28 13

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 5 I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was 6 issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on 7 [date] in the case of Estate of Kaushal Niroula, et al. v. County of Riverside, et al.; 8 Case No. 5:23-cv-1739 (SPx). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the 9 terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, and I understand and acknowledge that 10 failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of 11 contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information 12 or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except 13 in 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 19 address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in 20 connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this 21 Stipulated Protective Order. Date: ______________________________________ 22 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 23

24 Printed name: _______________________________ 25

26 Signature: __________________________________ 27

28 1 *Pursuant to Local Rule 5-4.3.4(2), the filer attests that all signatories listed, and on 2 whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28