Karibbea Young v. County of Los Angeles

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: May 25, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-09503
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KARIBBEA YOUNG, an individual, ) CASE NO. 2:20-cv-09503-DSF-JEM 12 ) [Assigned to the Hon. Dale S. Fischer in 13 Plaintiffs, ) Courtroom 7D] 14 ) vs. ) DISCOVERY MATTER 15 ) 16 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, a ) PROTECTIVE ORDER RE: public entity; et al., ) DISCLOSURE OF DOCUMENTS BY 17 ) LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERIOR 18 Defendants. ) COURT – JUVENILE DEPENDENCY ) COURT 19 ) 20 ) ) 21 ) Complaint Filed: August 5, 2020 22 ) ) Trial Date: None 23 ) 24 ) ) 25 26

28 The Court having held a Status Conference on December 28, 2020 and having 2 heard counsel for Plaintiff Karibbea Young (“Plaintiff”) and counsel for Defendants 3 County of Los Angeles, Sandy Perez, Lizette Carmona, William Cueva, Lilianna 4 Garcia, Lucky Nguyen, and Hector Alvarez (collectively “Defendants”) regarding the 5 parties’ need for juvenile court records relating to Los Angeles Superior Court, 6 Juvenile Case No. 18CC03008A, understanding that Plaintiff’s counsel filed a petition 7 with the Juvenile Court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 827 on or about 8 July 27, 2020 and Defendants’ counsel filed their petition on or about October 30, 2020 9 and that the Juvenile Court granted the parties’ petitions on or about March 10, 2021 10 but did not authorize release of all documents contained in the “juvenile case file”, 11 which the Court recognizes and considers as defined by California Rules of Court, Rule 12 5.552, includes “all documents filed in a juvenile court case” pursuant to Rule 13 5.552(a)(1), are subject to confidentiality provisions of California Welfare & 14 Institutions Code section 827 et seq., and further acknowledging the arguments of 15 counsel and stipulations and agreement, and good cause appearing therefore, hereby 16 makes findings and orders as follows: 17 1. As used herein, “Juvenile Case File” includes all categories of documents listed in California Rules of Court, Rule 5.552, pertaining to Los Angeles Superior 18 Court, Juvenile Case No. 18CC03008A, including: 19 a. All documents filed in the juvenile court case; 20 b. Reports to the juvenile court by probation officers, social workers of 21 child welfare services programs, and CASA volunteers; 22 c. Documents made available to probation officers, social workers of child 23 welfare services programs, and CASA volunteers in preparation of 24 reports to the court; 25 d. Documents relating to a child concerning whom a petition has been filed 26 in juvenile court that are maintained in the office files of probation 27 officers, social workers of child welfare services programs, and CASA 28 volunteers; 2 e. Transcripts, records, or reports relating to matters prepared or released 3 by the court, probation department, or child welfare services program; 4 and 5 f. Documents, video or audio tapes, photographs, and exhibits admitted 6 into evidence at juvenile court hearings. 7 2. The confidentiality of the Juvenile Case File is intended to protect the 8 privacy rights of the child. 9 3. The Juvenile Case File cannot be reasonably obtained from any source 10 other than the Los Angeles Superior Court, the County of Los Angeles, and other 11 custodians designated under state law. 12 4. The Court finds that the Juvenile Case File is highly relevant to the instant 13 action, and there is a legitimate need for the parties to access and use the same in 14 presenting their case to this Court. The need for discovery outweighs the policy 15 considerations favoring confidentiality of the Juvenile Case File. 16 5. This Court has jurisdiction to order disclosure of the Juvenile Case File 17 notwithstanding state law. See Gonzalez v. Spencer, 336 F.3d 832, 835 (9th Cir. 2003). 18 6. Plaintiff, Defendants, and any other custodians of records that possess any 19 Juvenile Case File record or control the Juvenile Case File are directed to release the 20 Juvenile Case File records to the parties, after redacting identifying information 21 pursuant to California Government Code section 6254, California Penal Code section 22 11165 et seq., California Civil Code section 1798 et seq., Vehicle Code section 1653.5 23 et seq., California Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, Superior Court of Los 24 Angeles County Local Rules, Rule 7.2, and California Rules of Court, Rule 5.552. 25 7. Use of the Juvenile Case File and information obtained under this order 26 is limited to this civil action. 27 8. Counsel for the parties may make such copies of the files and information 28 obtained under this order as are necessary for the preparation and presentation of || evidence in this civil action. 2 9. The Juvenile Case File may be reviewed by the parties and their counsel 3 |/The Juvenile Case File may also be reviewed by any experts, investigators, an 4 |/consultants retained by the parties, court reporters in this civil action, percipien 5 || witnesses, non-retained experts, mediators, interpreters, and jurors as it relates to thi 6 || civil action. 7 10. The Juvenile Case File obtained under this order shall be kept in □ 8 || confidential manner and shall not be released to other persons not directly □□□□□□□□□ 9 || with this civil action. 10 11. | Norecords or information obtained shall be made part of any other cour 11 || file that is open to the public, unless by court order or as allowed by law. If any Juvenil 12 || Case File records are attached to a document filed or submitted in this civil case, sucl 13 ||/records should be filed under seal. 14 12. Any unauthorized disclosure of the Juvenile Case File or other failure t ||comply with the terms of this order may constitute an unlawful dissemination o 16 || confidential information and/or may be punishable as contempt of court. 17 13. Upon conclusion of the matter, extended if appeal is filed, all □□□□□□□ 18 || documents are to be destroyed. 19 20 || IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 ph FE Wedematl— 33 |IDATED: 2/25/2021 24 The Honorable John E. McDermott 35 United States Magistrate Judge 26 27 28