La Drea Johnson v. City of Los Angeles

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: April 22, 2025
• Docket: 2:24-cv-00475
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 LA DREA JOHNSON, CASE NO. 2:24-cv-00475-DDP-AJR

Honorable Dean D. Pregerson 12 Plaintiff, Honorable A. Joel Richlin 13 v.

[PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE ORDER 14 CITY OF LOS ANGELES; LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT; 15 VICTOR PORCAYO, Sergeant I; SON NGUYEN, Police Officer II; RENEE 16 MORALES, Police Officer I; and DOES 1 through 10, 17 Defendants, 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 1. GENERAL 2 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve 3 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special 4 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting 5 this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and 6 petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 7 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or 8 responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use 9 extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential 10 treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set 11 forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them 12 to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 13 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party 14 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 15 1.2 Good Cause Statement. 16 This action involves the City of Los Angeles (“CITY) and individual sworn police 17 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”) on one side; and on the other, 18 Plaintiffs who claim damages from the City and LAPD Officers. 19 As such, Plaintiff may seek materials and information that the City maintains as 20 confidential, such as personnel files of the police officers involved in the incident, video 21 recordings (including Body-Worn Video recordings and Digital In-Car Video 22 recordings), audio recordings, and other administrative materials and information 23 currently in the possession of the City and which the City believes needs special 24 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting 25 this litigation. Plaintiff may also seek official information contained in the personnel files 26 of the Police Officers involved in the subject incident, which the City maintains as 27 strictly confidential and which the City believes needs special protection from public 1 The City asserts that the confidentiality of materials and information sought by 2 Plaintiff is recognized by California and federal law as evidenced by, inter alia, 3 California Penal Code section 832.7, California Evidence Code section 1043 et. seq. 4 and Kerr v. United States District Ct. for N.D. Cal., 511 F.2d 192, 198 (9th Cir. 1975), 5 aff’d, 426 U.S. 394 (1976); Sanchez v. City of Santa Ana, 936 F.2d 1027, 1033 (9th Cir. 6 1990); Miller v. Pancucci, 141 F.R.D. 292 (C.D. Cal. 1992). The City has not and does 7 not publicly release the materials and information referenced above except under a 8 protective order or pursuant to a court order, if at all. These materials and information 9 are of the type that has been used to initiate disciplinary action against LAPD officers 10 and has been used as evidence in disciplinary proceedings, where officers’ conduct was 11 considered to be contrary to LAPD policy. 12 The City contends that absent a protective order delineating the responsibilities of 13 nondisclosure on the part of the parties hereto, there is a specific risk of unnecessary and 14 undue disclosure by one or more of the many attorneys, secretaries, law clerks, 15 paralegals, and expert witnesses involved in the case, as well as the corollary risk of 16 embarrassment, harassment and professional and legal harm on the part of the LAPD 17 officers referenced in the materials and information. 18 Defendants also seek discovery of various information relating to Plaintiff’s 19 damages claims, including employment information, housing information, financial 20 information, and confidential medical records that may be personal, private, and 21 potentially embarrassing if unnecessarily disseminated; thus, Plaintiff contends such 22 information should not be disseminated beyond this litigation. 23 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolute 24 of disputes over the confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect 25 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are 26 permitted reasonably necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the 27 conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of litigation, and serve the ends of 1 confidential for tactical reasons and nothing will be designated without a good faith belief 2 that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause 3 why it should not be part of the public record in this case. 4 Plaintiff is in possession of Body-Worn Video (“BWV”) and was provide a copy 5 through the Los Angeles Police Department’s AXON evidence.com James Sumbi (Badge 6 ID: N2907) on February 17, 2023. Therefore, there is no good cause for the BWV to be 7 under the protective order since it was issued by the Los Angeles Police Department. 8 9 2. DEFINITIONS 10 2.1 Action: Johnson v. City of Los Angeles et. al., 2:24-cv-00475-DDP-AJR 11 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 12 information or items under this Order. 13 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how 14 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under 15 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause 16 Statement. 17 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 18 support staff). 19 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 20 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 23 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among 24 other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated 25 in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 26 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 27 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an 1 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 2 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 3 counsel. 4 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 5 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to 7 this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 8 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 9 appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff. 10 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 11 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 12 support staffs). 13 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 14 Discovery Material in this Action. 15 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 16 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 17 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and 18 their employees and subcontractors. 19 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 20 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 22 from a Producing Party. 23 24 3. SCOPE 25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 26 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 27 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected 1 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 2 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial 3 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 4 5 4. DURATION 6 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced 7 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective 8 order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, 9 including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to 10 proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. 11 City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing 12 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling 13 reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). 14 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the 15 commencement of the trial. 16 17 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 19 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 20 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 21 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 22 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 23 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for 24 which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this 25 Order. 26 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 27 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 1 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary 2 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 5 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this 7 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or 8 ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order 9 must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 11 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 12 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 13 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend 14 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 15 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 16 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 17 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 18 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 19 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 20 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before 21 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 22 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants 23 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 24 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the 25 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to 26 each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material 27 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 1 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify 2 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition. 3 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 4 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 5 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 6 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 7 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 8 portion(s). 9 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 10 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 11 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon 12 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to 13 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 14 15 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 16 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 17 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling 18 Order. 19 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 20 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq. Any discovery motion must strictly 21 comply with the procedures set forth in Local Rules 37-1, 37-2, and 37-3. 22 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall 23 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 24 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) 25 may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has 26 waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford 27 the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the 1 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 3 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 4 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 5 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 6 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 7 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 8 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 9 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 10 authorized under this Order. 11 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 12 ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving 13 Party may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 14 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 15 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 16 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 17 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 18 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 19 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 20 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 21 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 22 (d) the Court and its personnel; 23 (e) court reporters and their staff; 24 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 25 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 26 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 27 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 1 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 2 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 3 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 4 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 5 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed 6 by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition 7 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately 8 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 9 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 10 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 11 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 12 13 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 14 IN OTHER LITIGATION 15 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that 16 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 17 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 18 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 19 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 20 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 21 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or 22 order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this 23 Stipulated Protective Order; and 24 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by 25 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 26 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 27 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 1 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 2 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 3 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 4 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 5 directive from another court. 6 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 7 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 8 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 9 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced 10 by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief 11 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting 12 a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 13 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce 14 a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an 15 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, 16 then the Party shall: 17 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 18 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a 19 Non-Party; 20 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 21 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 22 specific description of the information requested; and 23 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 24 Party, if requested. 25 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 26 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 27 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 1 produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality 2 agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court 3 order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 4 protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 5 6 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 8 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 9 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing 10 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve 11 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to 12 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) 13 request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 14 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 15 16 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 17 PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 19 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the 20 obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 21 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 22 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 23 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 24 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 25 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 26 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to 27 the Court. 1 12. MISCELLANEOUS 2 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 3 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 4 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 5 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 6 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 7 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 8 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 9 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 10 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 11 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 12 Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file under seal. 13 If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then the 14 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise 15 instructed by the Court. 16 17 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 18 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by 19 the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the 20 Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 21 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format 22 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material 23 is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the 24 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 25 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected 26 Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not 27 retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing 1 entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and 2 hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, 3 expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if 4 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 5 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 6 Section 4 (DURATION). 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 VIOLATION OF ORDER 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures 3 ||including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 5 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 6 7 || Dated: April 10, 2025 By: g LA DREA NSON Plaintiff in Pro per 9 10 11 || Dated: April 21, 2025 Respectfully submitted, 12 HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, City Attorney 13 DENISE MILLS, Chief Deputy City Attorney 14 KATHLEEN KENEALY, Chief Asst. City Attorney 15 CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Assistant City Attorney 16 By: Yeremy Warren 17 JEREMY B. WARREN Deputy City Attorney 18 Attorneys for Defendant, CITY OF LOS ANGELES 19 and LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT 20 21 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 23 : : Dated: 4/22/2025 24 HONQRABLE A. JOEL RICHLIN 25 United States Magistrate Judge 26 27 28

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _________________________________________________ [full name], of 5 __________________________________________ [full address], declare under 6 penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated 7 Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central 8 District of California on ____________ [date] in the case of La Drea Johnson v. City 9 of Los Angeles, 2:24-cv-00475-DDP-AJR. I agree to comply with and to be bound by 10 all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that 11 failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of 12 contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or 13 item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in 14 strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for 16 the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 17 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 18 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [full 19 name] of __________________________________________________________ [full 20 address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in 21 connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated 22 Protective Order. 23 24 Date: __________________________________ 25 City and State where signed: __________________________________ 26 Printed name: __________________________________ 27 Signature: __________________________________