Koron Lekeith Lowe v. County of Riverside

District Court, C.D. California·Decided May 17, 2024·No. 5:24-cv-00169·Unknown

Opinion

Eugene P. Ramirez (State Bar No. 134865) eugene.ramirez@manningkass.com Marisa Zarate (State Bar No. 140286) marisa.zarate@manningkass.com Andrea Kornblau (State Bar No. 291613) andrea.kornblau@manningkass.com MANNING & KASS 801 S. Figueroa St, 15th Floor Los Angeles, California 90017-3012 Telephone: (213) 624-6900; Facsimile: (213) 624-6999 Attorneys for Defendants, CITY OF HEMET and OFFICER DYLAN DETWILER Nathan A. Oyster (SBN 225307) E-mail: noyster@bwslaw.com Caylin W. Jones (SBN 327829) E-mail: cjones@bwslaw.com BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 444 South Flower Street, Suite 2400 Los Angeles, California 90071-2953 Tel: 213.236.0600 Fax: 213.236.2700 Attorneys for COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE LAW OFFICES OF DALE K. GALIPO Dale K. Galipo, Esq. (SBN 144074) dalekgalipo@yahoo.com Marcel F. Sincich, Esq. (SBN 319508) msincich@galipolaw.com 21800 Burbank Boulevard, Suite 310, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 Phone: (818) 347-3333 | Fax: (818) 347-4118 LAW OFFICES OF GRECH & PACKER Trenton C. Packer (SBN 241057) tpacker@grechpackerlaw.com 7095 Indiana Ave Ste 200, Riverside, CA 92506 Phone: (951) 682-9311 Attorneys for Plaintiff KORON LOWE

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

KORON LEKEITH LOWE, Case No.: 5:24-cv-00169-SSS (SHKx)

Plaintiff, [Honorable Sunshine S. Sykes] Hon Mag Judge Shashi H. Kewalramani v. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE; CITY ORDER OF HEMET; DYLAN DETWILER; DISCOVERY MATTER and DOES 1-10, inclusive, Trial: September 8, 2025 Defendants. Time: 09:00 a.m. Ctrm: 2 TO THE HONORABLE COURT: By and through their counsel of record in this action, plaintiff KORON LEKEITH LOWE, (hereinafter referred to as “Plaintiff”) and defendants CITY OF HEMET and DYLAN DETWILER (hereinafter referred to collectively as “Defendants”) – the parties – hereby stipulate for the purpose of jointly requesting that the honorable Court enter a protective order re confidential documents in this matter [and pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2, 7, and 26, as well as U.S. Dist. Ct., C.D. Cal., Local Rules 7-1 and 52-4.1; and any applicable Orders of the Court] – as follows: 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS Discovery in this action is 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. Nothing in this Stipulation or associated Order shall be construed so as to require or mandate that any Party disclose or produce privileged information or records that could be designated as Confidential Documents/Protected Material hereunder. This action relates to the arrest and use of force against Plaintiff Koron Lowe. Defendant County of Riverside contends, the relevant material in this case includes, but is not limited to, body-worn camera footage, police reports, witness statements, and information about individuals who are not parties to this litigation. Defendant County submits that good cause exists to enter the proposed protective order to balance Defendants’ concerns that the documents consist of police reports and private information concerning the parties to this litigation, which is protected by the official information privilege, law enforcement privilege and the right to privacy, as protected by the California and United States Constitution, with Plaintiff’s right to discovery in this litigation. Defendant City of Hemet contends that there is good cause and a particularized need for a protective order to preserve the interests of confidentiality and privacy in peace officer personnel file records and associated investigative or confidential records for the following reasons. First, Defendants contend that peace officers have a federal privilege of privacy in their personnel file records: a reasonable expectation of privacy therein that is underscored, specified, and arguably heightened by the Pitchess protective procedure of California law. See Sanchez v. Santa Ana Police Dept., 936 F.2d 1027, 1033-1034 (9th Cir. 1990); Hallon v. City of Stockton, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14665, *2-3, 12-13 (E.D. Cal. 2012) (concluding that “while “[f]ederal law applies to privilege based discovery disputes involving federal claims,” the “state privilege law which is consistent with its federal equivalent significantly assists in applying [federal] privilege law to discovery disputes”); Soto v. City of Concord, 162 F.R.D. 603, 613 n. 4, 616 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (peace officers have constitutionally-based “privacy rights [that] are not inconsequential” in their police personnel records); cf. Cal. Penal Code §§ 832.7, 832.8; Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1040-1047. Defendants threaten the safety of non-party witnesses, officers, and their families/associates. Second, Defendants contend that municipalities and law enforcement agencies have federal deliberative-executive process privilege, federal official information privilege, federal law enforcement privilege, and federal attorney-client privilege (and/or attorney work product protection) interests in the personnel files of their peace officers – particularly as to those portions of peace officer personnel files that contain critical self-analysis, internal deliberation/decision-making or evaluation/analysis, or communications for the purposes of obtaining or rendering legal advice or analysis – potentially including but not limited to evaluative/analytical portions of Internal Affairs type records or reports, evaluative/analytical portions of supervisory records or reports, and/or reports prepared at the direction of counsel, or for the purpose of obtaining or rendering legal advice. See Sanchez, 936 F.2d at 1033-1034; Maricopa Audubon Soc’y v. United States Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1089, 1092-1095 (9th Cir. 1997); Soto, 162 F.R.D. at 613, 613 n. 4; Kelly v. City of San Jose, 114 F.R.D. 654, 668-671 (N.D. Cal. 1987); Tuite v. Henry, 181 F.R.D. 175, 176-177 (D. D.C. 1998); Hamstreet v. Duncan, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89702 (D. Or. 2007); Admiral Ins. Co. v. United States Dist. Ct., 881 F.2d 1486, 1492, 1495 (9th Cir. 1988). Defendants further contend that such personnel file records are restricted from disclosure by the public entity’s custodian of records pursuant to applicable California law and that uncontrolled release is likely to result in needless intrusion of officer privacy; impairment in the collection of third-party witness information and statements and related legitimate law enforcement investigations/interests; and a chilling of open and honest discussion regarding and/or investigation into alleged misconduct that can erode a public entity’s ability to identify and/or implement any remedial measures that may be required. rights as other private citizens to avoid giving compelled statements, it is contrary to the fundamental principles of fairness to permit uncontrolled release of officers’ compelled statements. See generally Lybarger v. City of Los Angeles, 40 Cal.3d 822, 828-830 (1985); cf. U.S. Const., amend V. Accor

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