Jose Garcia v. Cathedral City Police

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: October 15, 2024
• Docket: 5:24-cv-00237
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 Dean Gazzo Roistacher LLP Mitchell D. Dean, Esq. (SBN 128926) 2 John A. Kelly, Esq. (SBN 324463) 440 Stevens Avenue, Suite 100 3 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Telephone: (858) 380-4683 4 Facsimile: (858) 492-0486 E-mai: mdean@deangazzo.com 5 jkelly@deangazzo.com

6 Attorneys for Defendants, Cathedral City and Cathedral City Police 7 Department

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JOSE GARCIA, individually, Case No.: 5:24-cv-00237-JGB (DTBx) 11 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 12 ORDER v. 13 Judge: Jesus G. Bernal CATHEDRAL CITY POLICE Mag. Judge: David T. Bristow 14 DEPARTMENT, a public entity; CATHEDRAL CITY, a Complaint Filed: February 1, 2024 15 public entity, JEFFREY AGUIRRE, Trial Date: None set individually, 16 Defendants. 17

18 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 19 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 20 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 21 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 22 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 23 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 24 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 25 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 26 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 27 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth 28 in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them 1 to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 2 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 3 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 4 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 5 Defendants Cathedral City and Cathedral City Police Department 6 (“Cathedral City Defendants”) contend that there is good cause and a 7 particularized need for a protective order to preserve the interests of confidentiality 8 and privacy in peace officer personnel file records and associated investigative or 9 confidential records for the following reasons. 10 First, Cathedral City Defendants contend that peace officers have a federal 11 privilege of privacy in their personnel file records: a reasonable expectation of 12 privacy therein that is underscored, specified, and arguably heightened by the 13 Pitchess protective procedure of California law. See Sanchez v. Santa Ana Police 14 Dept., 936 F.2d 1027, 1033-1034 (9th Cir. 1990); Hallon v. City of Stockton, 2012 15 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14665, *2-3, 12-13 (E.D. Cal. 2012) (concluding that “while 16 “[f]ederal law applies to privilege based discovery disputes involving federal 17 claims,” the “state privilege law which is consistent with its federal equivalent 18 significantly assists in applying [federal] privilege law to discovery disputes”); 19 Soto v. City of Concord, 162 F.R.D. 603, 613 n. 4, 616 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (peace 20 officers have constitutionally-based “privacy rights [that] are not inconsequential” 21 in their police personnel records); cf. Cal. Penal Code §§ 832.7, 832.8; Cal. Evid. 22 Code §§ 1040-1047. Cathedral City Defendants further contend that uncontrolled 23 disclosure of such personnel file information can threaten the safety of non- 24 party witnesses, officers, and their families/associates. 25 Second, Cathedral City Defendants contend that municipalities and law 26 enforcement agencies have federal deliberative-executive process privilege, 27 federal official information privilege, federal law enforcement privilege, and 28 federal attorney-client privilege (and/or attorney work product protection) interests 1 in the personnel files of their peace officers – particularly as to those portions of 2 peace officer personnel files that contain critical self-analysis, internal 3 deliberation/decision-making or evaluation/analysis, or communications for the 4 purposes of obtaining or rendering legal advice or analysis – potentially including 5 but not limited to evaluative/analytical portions of Internal Affairs type records or 6 reports, evaluative/analytical portions of supervisory records or reports, and/or 7 reports prepared at the direction of counsel, or for the purpose of obtaining or 8 rendering legal advice. See Sanchez, 936 F.2d at 1033-1034; Maricopa Audubon 9 Soc’y v. United States Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1089, 1092-1095 (9th Cir. 1997); 10 Soto, 162 F.R.D. at 613, 613 n. 4; Kelly v. City of San Jose, 114 F.R.D. 654, 668- 11 671 (N.D. Cal. 1987); Tuite v. Henry, 181 F.R.D. 175, 176-177 (D. D.C. 1998); 12 Hamstreet v. Duncan, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89702 (D. Or. 2007); Admiral Ins. 13 Co. v. United States Dist. Ct., 881 F.2d 1486, 1492, 1495 (9th Cir. 1988). Cathedral 14 City Defendants further contend that such personnel file records are restricted from 15 disclosure by the public entity’s custodian of records pursuant to applicable 16 California law and that uncontrolled release is likely to result in needless 17 intrusion of officer privacy; impairment in the collection of third-party 18 witness information and statements and related legitimate law enforcement 19 investigations/interests; and a chilling of open and honest discussion 20 regarding and/or investigation into alleged misconduct that can erode a 21 public entity’s ability to identify and/or implement any remedial measures 22 that may be required. 23 Third, Cathedral City Defendants contend that, since peace officers do not 24 have the same rights as other private citizens to avoid giving compelled statements, 25 it is contrary to the fundamental principles of fairness to permit uncontrolled 26 release of officers’ compelled statements. See generally Lybarger v. City of Los 27 Angeles, 40 Cal.3d 822, 828-830 (1985); cf. U.S. Const., amend V. 28 Accordingly, Cathedral City Defendants contend that, without a protective 1 order preventing such, production of confidential records in the case can and will 2 likely substantially impair and harm defendant public entity’s interests in candid 3 self-critical analysis, frank internal deliberations, obtaining candid information 4 from witnesses, preserving the safety of witnesses, preserving the safety of peace 5 officers and peace officers’ families and associates, protecting the privacy officers 6 of peace officers, and preventing pending investigations from being detrimentally 7 undermined by publication of private, sensitive, or confidential information – as 8 can and often does result in litigation. 9 Plaintiff does not agree with and do not stipulate to Cathedral City 10 Defendants’ contentions stated above. Plaintiff agrees, however, that there is good 11 cause for a Protective Order so as to preserve the respective interests of the parties. 12 Plaintiff recognizes that, absent this Stipulated Protective Order, the parties’ 13 respective privilege interests may be impaired or harmed, and that this Stipulated 14 Protective Order may mitigate such harm by permitting the parties to facilitate 15 discovery with reduced risk that confidential information will become matters of 16 public record. 17 Because of these sensitive interests, a Court Order should address these 18 documents rather than a private agreement between the parties. 19 2. DEFINITIONS 20 2.1 Action: This pending federal law suit. 21 2.2 Challenging Party: A Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 22 of information or items under this Order. 23 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information (regardless of 24 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 25 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 26 the Good Cause Statement. 27 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 28 their support staff). 1 2.5 Designating Party: A Party or Non-Party that designates information or 2 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 3 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 4 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: All items or information, regardless 5 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 6 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 7 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 8 2.7 Expert: A person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 9 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve 10 as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 11 2.8 House Counsel: Attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 12 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 13 counsel. 14 2.9 Non-Party: Any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, 15 or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 16 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: Attorneys who are not employees of a 17 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action 18 and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law 19 firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 20 2.11 Party: Any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 21 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and 22 their support staffs). 23 2.12 Producing Party: A Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 24 Discovery Material in this Action. 25 2.13 Professional Vendors: Persons or entities that provide litigation 26 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits 27 or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or 28 medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 1 2.14 Protected Material: Any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 2 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 3 2.15 Receiving Party: A Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 4 Material from a Producing Party. 5 3. SCOPE 6 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 7 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 8 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 9 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 10 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 11 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 12 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 13 4. DURATION 14 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 15 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or 16 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively 17 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling 18 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to 19 the trial judge in advance of the trial.See Kamakana v. City and County of 20 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” 21 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 22 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, 23 the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of 24 the trial. 25 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 27 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection 28 under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material 1 that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must 2 designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or 3 written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 4 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are 5 not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 6 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. 7 Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for 8 an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development 9 process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 10 expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 11 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that 12 it designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party 13 must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 14 designation. 15 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 16 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 17 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for 18 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is 19 disclosed or produced. 20 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 21 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 22 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 23 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 24 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 25 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 26 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 27 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 28 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for 1 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party 2 has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 3 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 4 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 5 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 6 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 7 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must 8 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. 9 If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 10 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 11 appropriate markings in the margins). 12 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the 13 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition 14 all protected testimony. 15 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 16 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 17 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 18 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 19 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 20 protected portion(s). 21 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 22 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 23 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 24 material. 25 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make 26 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 27 provisions of this Order. 28 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 1 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 2 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 3 Scheduling Order. 4 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 5 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 6 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 7 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 8 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 9 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 10 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 11 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 12 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 13 challenge. 14 6.4. Withdrawal of “CONFIDENTIAL” Designation. At its discretion, a 15 Designating Party may remove Protected Material from some or all of the 16 protections and provisions of this Stipulated Protective Order at any time by any 17 of the following methods: 18 (a) Express Written Withdrawal. A Designating Party may withdraw a 19 “CONFIDENTIAL” designation made to any specified Protected Material from 20 some or all of the protections of this Stipulated Protective Order by an express 21 withdrawal in writing signed by the Designating Party or Designating Party’s 22 counsel (but not including staff of such counsel) that specifies and itemizes the 23 Disclosure or Discovery Material previously designated as Protected Material that 24 shall not longer be subject to some or all of the provisions of this Stipulated 25 Protective Order. Such express withdrawal shall be effective when transmitted or 26 served upon the Receiving Party. If a Designating Party is withdrawing Protected 27 Material from only some of the provisions/protections of this Stipulated Protective 28 Order, the Designating Party must state which specific provisions are no longer to 1 be enforced as to the specified material for which confidentiality protection 2 hereunder is withdrawn: otherwise, such withdrawal shall be construed as a 3 withdrawal of such material from all of the protections/provisions of this 4 Stipulated Protective Order; 5 (b) Express Withdrawal on the Record. A Designating Party may withdraw 6 a “CONFIDENTIAL” designation made to any specified Protected Material from 7 all of the provisions/protections of this Stipulated Protective Order by verbally 8 consenting in court proceedings on the record to such withdrawal – provided that 9 such withdrawal specifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material previously 10 designated as Protected Material shall no longer be subject to any of the provisions 11 of this Stipulation and Order; 12 (c) Implicit Withdrawal by Publication or Failure to Oppose Challenge. A 13 Designating Party shall be construed to have withdrawn a “CONFIDENTIAL” 14 designation made to any specified Protected Material from all of the 15 provisions/protections of this Stipulated Protective Order by either (1) making 16 such Protected Material part of the public record – including but not limited to 17 attaching such as exhibits to any filing with the court without moving, prior to such 18 filing, for the court to seal such records; or (2) failing to timely oppose a 19 Challenging Party’s motion to remove a “CONFIDENTIAL” designation to 20 specified Protected Material. 21 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 22 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 23 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 24 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 25 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under 26 the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 27 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 28 DISPOSITION). 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 3 authorized under this Order. 4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 8 (a) The Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well 9 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 12 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (d) the court and its personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff; 18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 19 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 20 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 22 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for witnesses, in the 24 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) The deposing 25 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) 26 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign 27 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 28 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 2 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 3 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 4 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 5 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 6 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 7 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 8 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 9 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 10 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 11 (a) Promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 12 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 13 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 14 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 15 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 16 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 17 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 18 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 19 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 20 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in 21 this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which 22 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 23 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 24 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 25 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 26 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 27 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 28 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 1 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 2 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 3 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 4 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 5 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 6 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 7 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 8 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 9 confidential information, then the Party shall: 10 (1) Promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 11 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 12 with a Non-Party; 13 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 14 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 15 description of the information requested; and 16 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 17 Party, if requested. 18 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 19 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 20 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 21 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 22 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject 23 to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 24 court. 25 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden 26 and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 27 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 28 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 1 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 2 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) 3 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its 4 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform 5 the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms 6 of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 7 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit 8 A. 9 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 10 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 11 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 12 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 13 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal 14 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 15 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 16 production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 17 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure 18 of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or 19 work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the 20 stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 21 12. MISCELLANEOUS 22 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 23 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 24 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 25 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 26 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in 27 this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on 28 any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 1 Order. 2 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 3 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material 4 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of 5 the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected 6 Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the 7 information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 8 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 9 Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the Producing Party, 10 within sixty (60) days after the final termination of this action (defined as the 11 dismissal or entry of judgment by the above named court, or if an appeal is filed, 12 the disposition of the appeal), upon written request by the Producing Party, each 13 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party – 14 whether retained by the Receiving Party or its Counsel, Experts, Professional 15 Vendors, agents, or any non-party to whom the Receiving Party produced or 16 shared such records or information. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 17 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other form 18 of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material, regardless of the 19 medium (hardcopy, electronic, or otherwise) in which such Protected Material is 20 stored or retained. 21 In the alternative, at the discretion of the Receiving Party, the Receiving 22 Party may destroy some or all of the Protected Material instead of returning it – 23 unless such Protected Material is an original, in which case, the Receiving Party 24 must obtain the Producing Party’s written consent before destroying such original 25 Protected Material. 26 Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party 27 must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 28 person or entity, to the Designating Party) within sixty (60) days of the 1 aforementioned written request by the Designating Party that specifically 2 identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 3 returned or destroyed and that affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained 4 any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or other forms of reproducing or 5 capturing any of the Protected material (in any medium, including but not limited 6 to any hardcopy, electronic or digital copy, or otherwise). 7 Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival 8 copy of all pleadings, motion papers, transcripts, legal memoranda filed with the 9 court in this action, as well as any correspondence or attorney work product 10 prepared by Counsel for the Receiving Party, even if such materials contain 11 Protected Material; however, any such archival copies that contain or constitute 12 Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 13 (DURATION), above. 14 /// 15 /// 16 /// 17 /// 18 /// 19 /// 20 /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 2 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 3 || sanctions. 4 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 5 || DATED October 15, 2024 6 = C tet 8 || Christian Contreras Attorneys for Plaintiff 9 || Jose Garcia 10 DATED: 10/15/2024 11 12 leh Keke Mitchell D. Dean 14 || John A. Kelly Attorneys for Defendants 15 || Cathedral City and Cathedral City Police Department 16 17 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 October 15, 2024 19 || DATED: 20 f Ac) | 21 ip) / alo 22 | David T. Bristow _ United States Magistrate Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28 Case No - 5:24-cv-00737-IGB (NTBx)

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 5 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 6 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California 7 on [date] in the case of ___________ [insert formal name of the case and the 8 number and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with and to be 9 bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and 10 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 11 punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose 12 in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 13 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of 14 this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 16 Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms 17 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 18 after termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ 19 [print or type full name] of _______________________________________ [print 20 or type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of 21 process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement 22 of this Stipulated Protective Order. 23 Date: ______________________________________ 24 City and State where sworn and signed: 25 _________________________________ 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27 28 Signature: __________________________________