1 TtliAcaRtAa@ J.L LYIlCegAaTl.Ane(tSBN No. 266111) 2 ALEX HADJIAN (SBN 327534) ahadjian@LYlegal.net 3 ALANA OSTROWIECKI (SBN 342304) aostrowiecki@LYlegal.net 4 LICATA & YEREMENKO A Professional Law Corporation 5 16000 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 800 Encino, CA 91436 6 Telephone: (818) 783-5757 Fax: (818) 783-7710 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff 8 MARK SORIA 9 Kristel B. Haddad (SBN 273250) 10 Kristel.Haddad@jacksonlewis.com Lilia V. Kavarian (SBN 332935) 11 Lilia.Kavarian@jacksonlewis.com JACKSON LEWIS P.C. 12 725 South Figueroa Street, Suite 2800 Los Angeles, California 90017-5408 13 Telephone: (213) 689-0404 Facsimile: (213) 689-0430 14 Attorneys for Defendants 15 MESSER LLC; MESSER NORTH AMERICA, INC.; and 16 MESSER NORTH AMERICA 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 19 MARK SORIA, CASE NO.: 2:25-cv-03430-MCS-BFM 20 Plaintiff, 21 [Case Removed from Los Angeles County vs. Superior Court Case No. 25STCV06537] 22 MESSER NORTH AMERICA, INC.; STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE 23 MESSER, LLC; ORDER MESSER NORTH AMERICA; and 24 DOES 1 through 100, Inclusive 25 Defendants. Complaint Filed: March 7, 2025 Trial: June 9, 2026 26 27 28 l l. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary 3 || or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for 4 || any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties 5 || hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. 6 ||The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 7 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public 8 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to 9 || confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 10 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 Good cause exists for the entry of a Protective Order in this matter. Plaintiff asserts 12 claims for age discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, alleging that 13 || he was terminated on December 4, 2023, based on pretextual reasons and replaced with, or 14 || treated less favorably than, substantially younger employees. Plaintiff further alleges that other 15 ||}employee drivers engaged in similar conduct but were not terminated and instead received 16 || lesser forms of discipline. By asserting these claims, Plaintiff has placed at issue the conduct, 17 disciplinary history, performance evaluations, ages, seniority, personnel records, and 18 |}employment actions relating to third-party comparator employees who are not parties to this 19 || litigation. 20 The discovery necessary to evaluate and defend against Plaintiff's allegations will 21 || require disclosure of confidential, private, and personnel-related information concerning these 22 ||non-party employees. This information includes, but is not limited to, personnel files, dates of 23 ||birth, employment histories, disciplinary records, performance reviews, internal 24 || investigations, and other sensitive employment-related data. These third-party employees have 25 || not placed their private employment information at issue, and disclosure without appropriate 26 ||safeguards would compromise their privacy and potentially expose them to unwarranted 27 intrusion. 28
Case No 2 95-cev3420-MCS_BEM. OR TTIDITT ATTIARN ARID DDATECTIVEARPRED. OOOO
1 Additionally, the allegations underlying Plaintiff’s claims—namely that Defendants 2 replaced him with younger workers, treated younger employees more favorably, and 3 disciplined other drivers differently—require Defendants to produce comparator evidence that 4 is inherently sensitive. This information is essential to Defendants’ ability to respond to 5 Plaintiff’s claims, demonstrate legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for the actions taken, and 6 rebut allegations of preferential treatment toward younger workers. However, public 7 disclosure of such records could cause harm to third parties by revealing private employment 8 information, confidential disciplinary outcomes, or sensitive workplace issues unrelated to this 9 lawsuit. 10 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution 11 of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 12 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable 13 necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their 14 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 15 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not 16 be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without 17 a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and 18 there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 19 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 20 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated 21 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil 22 Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied 23 when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong 24 presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil 25 cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a 26 filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th 27 Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar- 28 Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated 1 protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or 2 compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with 3 respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation 4 of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission 5 of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under 6 seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 7 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling 8 reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be 9 narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors 10 Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, 11 or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate 12 compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested 13 sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents 14 under seal must be provided by declaration. 15 4. DEFINITIONS 16 4.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit, Mark Soria vs. Messer North America, Inc., 17 et al. United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 2:25-cv- 18 03430-MCS-BFM. 19 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 20 of information or items under this Order.
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1 TtliAcaRtAa@ J.L LYIlCegAaTl.Ane(tSBN No. 266111) 2 ALEX HADJIAN (SBN 327534) ahadjian@LYlegal.net 3 ALANA OSTROWIECKI (SBN 342304) aostrowiecki@LYlegal.net 4 LICATA & YEREMENKO A Professional Law Corporation 5 16000 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 800 Encino, CA 91436 6 Telephone: (818) 783-5757 Fax: (818) 783-7710 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff 8 MARK SORIA 9 Kristel B. Haddad (SBN 273250) 10 Kristel.Haddad@jacksonlewis.com Lilia V. Kavarian (SBN 332935) 11 Lilia.Kavarian@jacksonlewis.com JACKSON LEWIS P.C. 12 725 South Figueroa Street, Suite 2800 Los Angeles, California 90017-5408 13 Telephone: (213) 689-0404 Facsimile: (213) 689-0430 14 Attorneys for Defendants 15 MESSER LLC; MESSER NORTH AMERICA, INC.; and 16 MESSER NORTH AMERICA 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 19 MARK SORIA, CASE NO.: 2:25-cv-03430-MCS-BFM 20 Plaintiff, 21 [Case Removed from Los Angeles County vs. Superior Court Case No. 25STCV06537] 22 MESSER NORTH AMERICA, INC.; STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE 23 MESSER, LLC; ORDER MESSER NORTH AMERICA; and 24 DOES 1 through 100, Inclusive 25 Defendants. Complaint Filed: March 7, 2025 Trial: June 9, 2026 26 27 28 l l. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary 3 || or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for 4 || any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties 5 || hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. 6 ||The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 7 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public 8 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to 9 || confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 10 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 Good cause exists for the entry of a Protective Order in this matter. Plaintiff asserts 12 claims for age discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, alleging that 13 || he was terminated on December 4, 2023, based on pretextual reasons and replaced with, or 14 || treated less favorably than, substantially younger employees. Plaintiff further alleges that other 15 ||}employee drivers engaged in similar conduct but were not terminated and instead received 16 || lesser forms of discipline. By asserting these claims, Plaintiff has placed at issue the conduct, 17 disciplinary history, performance evaluations, ages, seniority, personnel records, and 18 |}employment actions relating to third-party comparator employees who are not parties to this 19 || litigation. 20 The discovery necessary to evaluate and defend against Plaintiff's allegations will 21 || require disclosure of confidential, private, and personnel-related information concerning these 22 ||non-party employees. This information includes, but is not limited to, personnel files, dates of 23 ||birth, employment histories, disciplinary records, performance reviews, internal 24 || investigations, and other sensitive employment-related data. These third-party employees have 25 || not placed their private employment information at issue, and disclosure without appropriate 26 ||safeguards would compromise their privacy and potentially expose them to unwarranted 27 intrusion. 28
Case No 2 95-cev3420-MCS_BEM. OR TTIDITT ATTIARN ARID DDATECTIVEARPRED. OOOO
1 Additionally, the allegations underlying Plaintiff’s claims—namely that Defendants 2 replaced him with younger workers, treated younger employees more favorably, and 3 disciplined other drivers differently—require Defendants to produce comparator evidence that 4 is inherently sensitive. This information is essential to Defendants’ ability to respond to 5 Plaintiff’s claims, demonstrate legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for the actions taken, and 6 rebut allegations of preferential treatment toward younger workers. However, public 7 disclosure of such records could cause harm to third parties by revealing private employment 8 information, confidential disciplinary outcomes, or sensitive workplace issues unrelated to this 9 lawsuit. 10 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution 11 of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 12 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable 13 necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their 14 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 15 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not 16 be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without 17 a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and 18 there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 19 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 20 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated 21 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil 22 Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied 23 when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong 24 presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil 25 cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a 26 filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th 27 Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar- 28 Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated 1 protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or 2 compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with 3 respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation 4 of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission 5 of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under 6 seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 7 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling 8 reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be 9 narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors 10 Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, 11 or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate 12 compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested 13 sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents 14 under seal must be provided by declaration. 15 4. DEFINITIONS 16 4.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit, Mark Soria vs. Messer North America, Inc., 17 et al. United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 2:25-cv- 18 03430-MCS-BFM. 19 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 20 of information or items under this Order. 21 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it 22 is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under 23 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause 24 Statement. 25 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 26 support staff). 27 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items 28 that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 2 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other 3 things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in 4 disclosures or responses to discovery. 5 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 6 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an 7 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 8 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House 9 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 10 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other 11 legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 12 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to 13 this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in this 14 Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf 15 of that party, and includes support staff. 16 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 17 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support 18 staffs). 19 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 20 Material in this Action. 21 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 22 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 23 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and 24 their employees and subcontractors. 25 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated 26 as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 27 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from 28 a Producing Party. 1 5. SCOPE 2 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 3 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 4 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected 5 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel 6 that might reveal Protected Material. 7 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial 8 judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected 9 Material at trial. 10 6. DURATION 11 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or 12 maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes 13 public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, 14 unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are 15 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 16 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 17 “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). 18 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of 19 the trial. 20 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 22 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care 23 to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. 24 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, 25 items or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 26 documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 27 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 28 1 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 2 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 3 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses 4 and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 5 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 6 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 7 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 8 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this 9 Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that qualifies 10 for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is 11 disclosed or produced. 12 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 13 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 14 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the 15 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 16 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion 17 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 18 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 19 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not 20 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents 21 it would like copied and produced. 22 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 23 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 24 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 25 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before 26 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 27 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a 28 page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 1 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 2 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 3 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all 4 protected testimony. 5 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 6 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior 7 of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 8 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, 9 the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 10 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure 11 to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating 12 Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction 13 of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the 14 material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 15 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 16 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 17 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 18 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 19 process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 20 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint 21 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 22 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 23 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 24 harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 25 Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the 26 confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the 27 level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the 28 Court rules on the challenge. 1 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed 3 or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for 4 prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be 5 disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. 6 When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions 7 of section 15 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 8 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location 9 and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under 10 this Order. 11 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 12 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party 13 may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 14 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well 15 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 16 disclose the information for this Action; 17 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 18 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 disclosure 20 is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 21 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A) [TO BE NEGOTIATED AND PREPARED BY 22 PARTIES AND ATTACHED TO STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ORDER]; 23 (d) the court and its personnel; 24 (e) court reporters and their staff; 25 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 26 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed 27 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 28 1 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 2 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 3 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action 4 to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the 5 witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep 6 any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 7 Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. 8 Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 9 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 10 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 11 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, 12 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 13 10. 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 19 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 20 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue 21 in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject 22 to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective 23 Order; and 24 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 25 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party timely 26 seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce 27 any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by 28 the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the 1 Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 2 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 3 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to 4 disobey a lawful directive from another court. 5 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 6 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 7 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 8 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by 9 Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided 10 by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party 11 from seeking additional protections. 12 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 13 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject 14 to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential 15 information, then the Party shall: 16 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 17 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a 18 Non-Party; 19 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 20 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 21 description of the information requested; and 22 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, 23 if requested. 24 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 25 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 26 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If 27 the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any 28 information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with 1 the Non-Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the 2 Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its 3 Protected Material. 4 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 6 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated 7 Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating 8 Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized 9 copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized 10 disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons 11 to execute the “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 12 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 13 PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 15 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 16 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 17 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e- 18 discovery order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to 19 Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the 20 effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client 21 privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the 22 stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 23 14. MISCELLANEOUS 24 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person 25 to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 26 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective 27 Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or 28 producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated 1 Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in 2 evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 3 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected 4 Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed 5 under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected 6 Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, 7 then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise 8 instructed by the court. 9 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 days of 11 a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected 12 Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all 13 Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other 14 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material 15 is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the 16 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day 17 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 18 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 19 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 20 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival 21 copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal 22 memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work 23 product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected 24 Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject 25 to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 26 16. VIOLATION 27 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, 28 without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 1 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 2 || Dated: 01/05/26 LICATA & YEREMENKO, APLC 3 By: /s/Alana Ostrowiecki 4 Tara J. Licata, Esq. Alex Hadjian, Esq. 5 Alana Ostrowiecki, Esq. 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff MARK SORIA 7 \| Dated: 01/05/26 JACKSON LEWIS P.C. 8 By: /s/Lilia v. Kavarian 9 Kristel B. Haddad, Esq. 10 Lilia V. Kavarian, Esq. Attorneys for Defendants 11 MESSER LLC; MESSER NORTH AMERICA, INC.; and 12 MESSER NORTH AMERICA 13 14 13 | FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. Elif 17 Dated: JANUARY 6, 2026 18 HON. BRIANNA FULLER MIRCHEFF 19 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 4925-3346-3942, v. 1 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
No: 2:05-cv-_-N3430-MCS_REM 1A GTIDITT ATION ANTRI DRDHATECTIVE OAPHErP