Lisa D. Smith v. Midland Credit Management, Inc.

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: September 13, 2021
• Docket: 2:21-cv-01551
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION 11 12 || LISA D. SMITH, Case No. 2:21-cv-01551-PSG-MRWx 13 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 14 ORDER 15 Vv. Judge: Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez 16 || MIDLAND CREDIT MANAGEMENT, 17 || INC., Magistrate Judge: Hon. Michael R. Wilner 18 Defendant. 19 Complaint Filed: February 19, 2021 20 Check if submitted without material 21 modifications to MRW form 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 3 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 4 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 5 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 6 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 7 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 8 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 9 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 10 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 11 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, 12 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential 13 information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be 14 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from 15 the court to file material under seal. 16 1.2 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 17 Good cause exists for the parties to enter into this stipulated protective order to 18 prevent the public dissemination of Defendant’s and Non-party credit bureaus 19 confidential business information, and the personal financial information of the 20 Plaintiff. The stipulated protective order is necessary to allow the parties to exchange 21 information for the purposes of this litigation regarding Plaintiff’s claims that 22 Defendant through its exchange of information with the major credit reporting 23 bureaus caused the Plaintiff’s delinquent credit card account to be reported twice on 24 her credit report(s). 25 Parties anticipate that current written discovery and future discovery will 26 involve inquiry into Defendant’s policies and procedures concerning its 27 communications with the major credit reporting bureaus, its own internal compliance 1 Collection Practices Act, and related statutes, its data retentions policies, and other 2 confidential business information. The before mentioned confidential business 3 information is the appropriate subject of a protective order. (See S2 Automation LLC 4 v. Micron Tech., Inc., 283 F.R.D. 671, 681 (D.N.M. 2012) (The disclosure of trade 5 secrets, sensitive commercial information, and information that gives a competitive 6 advantage are proper subjects of a protective order.); Miles v. Boeing Co., 154 F.R.D. 7 112, 114 (E.D. Pa. 1994) (The subject matter of confidential business information is 8 broad, including a wide variety of business information.).) If forced to reveal the 9 aforementioned information, Defendant will be subjected to a competitive 10 disadvantage by being forced to reveal its compliance procedures which give it a 11 marked competitive advantage to its competitors as well as other confidential 12 information vital to its operation. Additionally, disclosure may impact its business 13 relationships with each respective major credit reporting agency as it communicates 14 with each individually and confidentially. 15 For the same reasons mentioned above, the protective order is necessary to 16 protect the confidential business information and data of the nonparty credit bureaus 17 in this case which was shared in confidence with Defendant. 18 Additionally, the protective order is necessary to allow for the personal 19 financial information of the Plaintiff to be disclosed and discussed without harm to 20 the Plaintiff. The protection of the personal financial information of a Plaintiff 21 constitutes good cause. (Horowitz v. GC Servs. Ltd. P'ship, No. 14cv2512-MMA 22 RBB, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 172359, at *9 (S.D. Cal. Dec. 12, 2016).) 23 For the forgoing reasons, good cause exists for this protective order. 24 25 2. DEFINITIONS 26 2.1 Action: this pending federal law suit. 27 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 1 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 2 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection 3 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good 4 Cause Statement. 5 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 6 support staff). 7 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 8 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 9 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 10 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 11 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 12 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 13 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 14 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 15 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 16 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 17 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 18 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 19 counsel. 20 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 21 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 22 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 23 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 24 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which 25 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 26 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 27 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 1 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 2 Discovery Material in this Action. 3 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 4 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 5 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 6 and their employees and subcontractors. 7 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 8 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 9 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 10 from a Producing Party. 11 12 3. SCOPE 13 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 14 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted 15 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 16 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties 17 or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 18 Any use of Protected Material at trial will be governed by the orders of the trial 19 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 20 21 4. DURATION 22 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 23 imposed by this Order will remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise 24 in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition will be deemed to be 25 the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with or without 26 prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all 27 appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, including the time 1 limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to 2 applicable law. 3 4 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 6 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection 7 under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 8 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 9 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 10 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, 11 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 12 within the ambit of this Order. 13 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 14 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 15 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 16 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 17 to sanctions. 18 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 19 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 20 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 21 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 22 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 23 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 24 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 25 produced. 26 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 27 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 1 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 2 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a 3 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 4 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 5 markings in the margins). 6 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for 7 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 8 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection 9 and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection will be 10 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents 11 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 12 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing 13 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 14 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions 15 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 16 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 17 margins). 18 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the 19 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all 20 protected testimony. 21 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any 22 other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior 23 of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 24 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 25 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, will identify the protected 26 portion(s). 27 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 1 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 2 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 3 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 4 Order. 5 6 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 7 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 8 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 9 Scheduling Order. 10 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party will initiate the dispute 11 resolution process (and, if necessary, file a discovery motion) under Local Rule 37.1 12 et seq. 13 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding will be on 14 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 15 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 16 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 17 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties will continue to afford the 18 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing 19 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 20 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 the 26 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 27 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 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 necessary 10 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 party 25 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 26 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 2 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 3 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 7 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 8 OTHER LITIGATION 9 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 10 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 11 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 12 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification will 13 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 14 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 15 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 16 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification will include a copy of 17 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 18 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 19 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 20 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 21 the subpoena or court order will not produce any information designated in this action 22 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 23 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 24 Designating Party will bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 25 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 26 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 27 directive from another court. 1 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 4 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 5 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 6 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 7 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 9 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 10 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 11 confidential information, then the Party will: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 13 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 14 with a Non-Party; 15 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 16 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 17 specific description of the information requested; and 18 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 19 Party, if requested. 20 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 21 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 22 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 23 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party will not 24 produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 25 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 26 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party will bear the burden and expense 27 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 1 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 4 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 5 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 6 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 7 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 8 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 9 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 11 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 12 PROTECTED MATERIAL 13 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 14 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 15 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 16 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 17 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 18 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 19 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 20 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 21 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 22 to the court. 23 24 12. MISCELLANEOUS 25 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 26 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 27 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 1 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 2 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 3 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 4 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 5 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 6 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 7 Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material under seal 8 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 9 record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 10 11 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 12 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 13 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 14 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 15 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 16 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 17 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 18 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 19 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies 20 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 21 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 22 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 23 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 24 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 25 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 26 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 27 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 1 || constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 2 || Section 4 (DURATION). 3 4 | 14. Any willful violation of this Order may be punished by civil or criminal 5 || contempt proceedings, financial or evidentiary sanctions, reference to disciplinary 6 || authorities, or other appropriate action at the discretion of the Court. 7 || ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 8 9 || DATED: _ September 13, 2021 /s/ Alejandro E. Figueroa 10 Attorneys for Plaintiff

11 12 || DATED: _ September, 13, 2021 /s/ John_A. Kelly Attorneys for Defendant

14 15 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 17 18 |} DATED: 9/13/2021 MLE United States Magisirate Judge 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 2 EXHIBIT A 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 4 5 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ 6 [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 7 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States 8 District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the case of 9 ___________ [insert case name and number]. I agree to comply with and to be 10 bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and 11 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment 12 in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner 13 any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any 14 person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 16 for 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 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 signed: _________________________________ 25 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27