First Foundation Inc. v.Thomas Munson Giddings

District Court, C.D. California·Decided March 23, 2020·No. 8:20-cv-00359·Unknown

Opinion

A Limited Liability Partnership, Including Professional Corporations JENNIFER G. REDMOND, Cal. Bar No. 144790 jredmond@sheppardmullin.com Four Embarcadero Center, 17th Floor San Francisco, California 94111 Tel: 213.434.9100 Fax: 213.434.3947 Y. DOUGLAS YANG, Cal. Bar No. 307550 dyang@sheppardmullin.com 333 South Hope Street, 43rd Floor Los Angeles, California 90071-1422 Tel: 213.620.1780 Fax: 213.620.1398 ISAIAH Z. WEEDN, Cal. Bar No. 229111 650 Town Center Drive, 10th Floor Costa Mesa, California 92626 Tel: 714.513.5100 Fax: 714.513.5130 Attorneys for Plaintiffs FIRST FOUNDATION INC. and FIRST FOUNDATION ADVISORS PATRICIA L. GLASER, Cal. Bar No. 55668 pglaser@glaserweil.com RORY S. MILLER, Cal. Bar No. 238780 rmiller@glaserweil.com MICHAEL L. SMITH, Cal. Bar No. 298917 msmith@glaserweil.com GLASER WEIL FINK HOWARD AVCHEN & SHAPIRO LLP 10250 Constellation Boulevard, 19th Floor Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 553-3000 Facsimile: (310) 556-2920 Attorneys for Defendants THOMAS GIDDINGS and LOUIS ABEL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SOUTHERN DIVISION FIRST FOUNDATION, INC., a Case No. 8:20-cv-00359-DOC-KES Delaware Corporation; and FIRST FOUNDATION ADVISORS, a JOINTLY STIPULATED California Corporation, PROTECTIVE ORDER: [PROPOSED] ORDER Plaintiffs, v. Complaint Filed: February 21, 2020 THOMAS MUNSON GIDDINGS, an individual; and LOUIS PANCOAST ABEL, an individual, Defendants. ATTORNEYS OF RECORD: In order to facilitate discovery in the above-captioned matter, Plaintiffs First Foundation Inc. and First Foundation Advisors (together, “Plaintiffs”) and Defendants Thomas Munson Giddings and Louis Pancoast Abel (together, “Defendants”) (collectively, “the parties”) hereby agree to the following Jointly Stipulated Protective Order concerning the CONFIDENTIAL or HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL treatment of certain documents and information. 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, 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 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 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; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets 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. Where the Court orders documents to be filed under seal, the Stipulated Protective Order shall be deemed to automatically apply to all documents sealed by order of the Court. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 1.1 Good Cause For a Protective Order Good cause exists for a Protective Order because both Plaintiffs and Defendant’s document productions will disclose information relating to (1) the trade secrets and confidential business practices of Plaintiffs, which Plaintiffs safeguard as a means to ensure competitiveness in their industry; and (2) private wealth clients’ personal and confidential information, such as their assets under management and other key financial information. See Harmon v. City of Santa Clara, 323 F.R.D. 617, 623 (N.D. Cal. 2018) (identifying privacy interests, among others when considering existence of good cause); Nutratech, Inc. v. Syntech (SSPF) Int'l, Inc., 242 F.R.D. 552, 554 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (recognizing trade secrets and confidential business information as legitimate categories of information subject to protection). 2. DEFINITIONS 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order. 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). This may include, without limitation and without either party conceding that any particular Protected Material is properly designated as such, information regarding personal financial and account information and private communications not related to the subject matter of this litigation. 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support staff). 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL– ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 2.7 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL—ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” Information or Items: information that the Producing Party claims in good faith is highly confidential or sensitive, including technical information, pricing and revenue information and other sensitive financial data, and the disclosure of which to another Party or Non-Party would create a substantial risk of serious harm that could not be avoided by less restrictive means. 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 2.11 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this action. 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL,” or as “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL— ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a Producing Party. 3. SCOPE The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protecte

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