Joshua Sanchez v. County of Los Angeles

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: August 21, 2023
• Docket: 2:22-cv-00289
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Joshua Sanchez 11 Case No.: 2:22-cv-00289-DMG-GJS Plaintiff, 12 v. [PROPOSED] JOINT STIPULATED 13 PROTECTIVE ORDER County of Los Angeles et al 14 NOTE CHANGES MADE BY THE Defendant. COURT TO GOOD CAUSE 15 STATEMENT

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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 disclosure 21 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 22 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 23 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 24 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 25 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 26 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 27 legal principles. 1 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 2 Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, a party seeking 3 to protect information from discovery or dissemination must show good cause. 4 This action is likely to involve private confidential information relating to peace 5 officer personnel records and proprietary information for which special protection from 6 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than the prosecution of this action 7 is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, 8 among other things, relevant portions of Defendant’s confidential peace officer personnel 9 records, which include information implicating the privacy rights of third parties. 10 Such information may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under 11 state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to 12 expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over 13 confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties 14 are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable 15 necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address 16 their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective 17 order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that 18 information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing 19 be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a 20 confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of 21 the public record of this case. 22 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER SEAL 23 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 24 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 25 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and 26 the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file 27 material under seal. 1 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial 2 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, 3 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and 4 County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors 5 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 6 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good 7 cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with 8 proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to 9 Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation 10 of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—without the 11 submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material 12 sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise 13 protectable—constitute good cause. 14 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 15 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief 16 sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See 17 Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each 18 item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under 19 seal in connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking protection must 20 articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for 21 the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to 22 file documents under seal must be provided by declaration. 23 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 24 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 25 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only 26 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall 27 be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety 1 2. DEFINITIONS 2 2.1 Action: Joshua Sanchez v. County of Los Angeles, et. al., 2:22-cv- 3 00289-DMG-GJS. 4 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 5 of information or items under this Order. 6 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information (regardless of 7 how it is generated, recorded, stored, or maintained), or items in any medium (i.e., 8 electronic, digital, or tangible things) that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 9 of Civil Procedure 26(c), that the party designating the information as confidential 10 (the “Designating Party”) reasonably believes to fall within the following definition: 11 Peace Officer Personnel records and other information protected from disclosure 12 under California and Federal law, or where disclosure of that information would be 13 highly offensive to a reasonable person and is not of legitimate public concern. 14 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 15 support staff). 16 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 17 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 18 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 19 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 20 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 21 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 22 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 23 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 24 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 25 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 26 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 27 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 1 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 2 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 3 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 4 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 5 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that 6 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 7 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 8 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 9 support staffs). 10 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 11 Discovery Material in this Action. 12 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 13 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 14 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 15 and their employees and subcontractors. 16 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 17 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 18 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 19 from a Producing Party. 3. SCOPE 20 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 21 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted 22 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 23 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties 24 or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 25 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 26 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 27 1 4. DURATION 2 FINAL DISPOSITION of the action is defined as the conclusion of any 3 appellate proceedings, or, if no appeal is taken, when the time for filing of an appeal 4 has run. Except as set forth below, the terms of this protective order apply through 5 FINAL DISPOSITION of the action. The parties may stipulate that the they will be 6 contractually bound by the terms of this agreement beyond FINAL DISPOSITION, 7 but will have to file a separate action for enforcement of the agreement once all 8 proceedings in this case are complete. 9 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 10 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced 11 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all 12 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by 13 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance 14 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” 15 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 16 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, for 17 such materials, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the 18 commencement of the trial. 19 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 20 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 21 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 22 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 23 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 24 only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written communications that 25 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items or communications 26 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 27 this Order. 1 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 2 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 3 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 4 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 5 to sanctions. 6 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 7 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 8 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 9 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 10 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 11 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 12 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 13 produced. 14 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 15 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 16 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 17 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 18 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 19 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 20 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 21 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 22 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 23 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 24 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 25 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 26 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents 27 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 1 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 2 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material 3 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 4 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 5 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 6 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition 7 all protected testimony. 8 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 9 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 10 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 11 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 12 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 13 portion(s). 14 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 15 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 16 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 17 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 18 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 19 Order. 20 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 21 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 22 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 23 Scheduling Order. 24 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 25 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 26 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 27 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 1 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 2 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the 3 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing 4 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 5 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 6 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 7 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 8 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 9 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 10 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 11 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 12 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 13 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 14 authorized under this Order. 15 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Under no 16 circumstances shall CONFIDENTIAL information be used in any proceeding other 17 than the instant case or be disseminated, in any form, except by Court Order. Unless 18 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 19 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 20 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 21 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well 22 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary 23 to disclose the information for this Action; 24 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 25 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 26 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 27 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 1 (d) the court and its personnel; 2 (e) court reporters and their staff; 3 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 4 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 5 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 6 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 7 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 8 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 9 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 10 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) they will 11 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 12 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 13 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 14 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 15 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 16 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 17 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 18 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 19 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 20 OTHER LITIGATION 21 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 22 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 23 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 24 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 25 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 26 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 27 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 1 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 2 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 3 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 4 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 5 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 6 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 7 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 8 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 9 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 10 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 11 directive from another court. 12 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 13 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 14 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 15 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 16 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 17 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 18 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 19 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 20 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 21 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 22 confidential information, then the Party shall: 23 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 24 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 25 with a Non-Party; 26 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 27 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 1 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 2 Party, if requested. 3 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 4 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 5 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 6 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 7 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 8 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 9 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense 10 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 11 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 13 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 14 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 15 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 16 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 17 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 18 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 19 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 20 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 21 PROTECTED MATERIAL 22 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 23 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 24 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 25 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 26 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 27 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 1 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 2 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 3 to the court. 4 12. MISCELLANEOUS 5 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 6 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 7 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 8 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 9 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 10 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 11 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 12 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 13 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 14 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 15 Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal 16 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 17 record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 18 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 19 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 20 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 21 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 22 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 23 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 24 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 25 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 26 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies 27 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 1 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 2 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 3 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 4 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 5 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 6 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 7 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 8 Section 4 (DURATION). 9 14. VIOLATION 10 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, 11 without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 12 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSELS OF RECORD. 13 14 DATED: 7/19/2023 /s/ Lucas E. Rowe 15 Attorney for Plaintiff, 16 Joshua Sanchez 17 18 DATED: 7/19/2023 /s/ David B. Zeetser 19 Attorney for Defendant, 20 County of Los Angeles 21 22 DATED: 7/19/2023 /s/ Marija Krisitch Decker 23 Attorney for Defendants, 24 Y. Cheng, J. Zavala, and O. Estrada 25 26 27 1 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 3 || DATED: August 21, 2023 4 5 My 6 United States Magistrate Judge 7 8 9 10 11 || SIGNATURE ATTESTATION 12 || Pursuant to Local Rule 5-4.3.4(a)(2), I hereby attest that all signatories listed above, 13 || and on whose behalf this filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have 14 || authorized the filing. 15 16 17 || DATED: 7/19/2023 /s/ David B. Zeetser 18 Attorney for Defendant, 19 County of Los Angeles 20 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 under penalty of perjury that 6 I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was 7 issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on 8 [date] in the case of Sanchez, Joshua v. County of Los Angeles, et. al., 2:22-cv-00289- 9 DMG-GJS. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated 10 Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could 11 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise 12 that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this 13 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with 14 the provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 16 Central District of California for enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 17 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I 18 hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 19 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and 20 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 21 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 22 Order. 23 Date: ______________________________________ 24 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 25 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27