Mina Boules v. United States of America; Federal Protective Service

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION

MINA BOULES, an individual, No. 2:23-cv-8891-CBM (PVCx) Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; DOE 4 “PARAGON SYSTEMS, INC”, a corporation of unknown origin; EDWARD LOTT, an individual; DOE 2 “SECURITY OFFICER SANDOVAL”, an individual; and DOE 3, an individual; DOES, a business entity of unknown form and origin; DOES 5-100, inclusive,

Defendants.

1. 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 pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the Parties 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. 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT This action involves proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of confidential business or financial information, commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of Third Parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the Parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the Parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a Protective Order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the Parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE The Parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil 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. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar- Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a Party seeks to file under seal. The Parties’ designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not – without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable – constitute good cause. Further, if a Party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the Party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration. Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 4. DEFINITIONS 4.1. Action: this pending federal lawsuit. 4.2. Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party who challenges the designation as CONFIDENTIAL information or items under this Order. 4.3. CONFIDENTIAL Information or Items: information (regardless of how generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in Section 2. 4.4. Counsel: Counsel of Record, House Counsel, and their support staff. 4.5. Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party who designates information or items it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as CONFIDENTIAL. 4.6. Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium or manner in which they are generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or in responses to discovery. 4.7. Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 4.8. House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party to this Action and who are not Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 4.9. Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 4.10. Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a Party to this Action but are retained to represent a Party to this Action and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that Party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that Party, and includes support staff. 4.11. Party: any Party to this Action, including its officers, directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record. 4.12. Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party who produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this Action. 4.13. Professional Vendors: persons or entities who provide litigation support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 4.14. Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as CONFIDENTIAL. 4.15. Receiving Party: a Party who receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a Producing Party. . . . . . 5. SCOPE The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material but also: (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that governed by the Orders of the trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 6. DURATION Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this Protective Order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this Protective Order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 7.1. Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or Non-Party who designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other Parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the designation. 7.2. Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. Designation in conformity with this Order requires: (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings) that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend CONFIDENTIAL (hereinafter CONFIDENTIAL legend), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). A Party or Non-Party who makes original documents available for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed CONFIDENTIAL. After the Inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the CONFIDENTIAL legend to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s). (b) For deposition testimony the Designating Party identifies on the record. (c) For information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container(s) in which the information is stored the legend CONFIDENTIAL. If only a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 7.3. Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, inadvertent failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a confidentiality designation at any time consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 8.2. Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 8.3. Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be by a joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. . . . . . 8.4. The Burden of Persuasion. In any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other Parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all Parties shall continue to afford the Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 9.1. Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of Section 15 below. Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 9.2. Disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL Information or Items. Unless by Court Order or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated CONFIDENTIAL only to: (a) The Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Action; (b) The officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A to this Order); (d) The Court and its personnel; (e) Court Reporters and their Staff; (f) Professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); (g) The author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; (h) During their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the Deposing Party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the Court Reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and (i) Any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the Parties engaged in settlement discussions. . . . . . 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED If a Party is served with a subpoena or a Court Order issued in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as CONFIDENTIAL, that Party must: (a) Promptly notify the Designating Party in writing, with a copy of the subpoena or Court Order; (b) Promptly notify in writing the Party who caused the subpoena or Order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and (c) Cooperate on all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party timely seeks a Protective Order, the Party served with the subpoena or Court Order shall not produce any information designated in this Action as CONFIDENTIAL before a determination by the Court from which the subpoena or Order issued unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection of confidential material in that Court, and nothing herein is to be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- Party in this Action and designated as CONFIDENTIAL. Such information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. (b) In the event that a Party is required by a valid discovery request to produce agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: (1) Promptly notify the Requesting Party and the Non-Party in writing that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; (2) Promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the information requested; and (3) Make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if requested. (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a Protective Order from this court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a Protective Order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL If a Receiving Party learns that by inadvertence or otherwise it has disclosed Protected Material to anyone or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately: (a) notify the Designating Party in writing of the unauthorized disclosure; (b) use its best efforts to persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order; and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not to modify procedure in an e-discovery Order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the Parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the Parties may incorporate their agreement in the Stipulated Protective Order submitted to the Court. 14. MISCELLANEOUS 14.1. Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 14.2. Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 14.3. Filing Protected Material. A Party who seeks to file Protected Material Order authorizing the sealing of specific Protected Material. If the Court denies a request to file Protected Material under seal, then unless the Court otherwise instructs, the Receiving Party may file the Material in the public record. 15. FINAL DISPOSITION After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in Section 6, within 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that: (a) identifies (by category, where appropriate) the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (b) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 6. \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ 1 16. VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Stipulated Protective Order may be sanctioned by 3 appropriate measures, including but not limited to monetary sanctions. 4 5 6 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN BY THE PARTIES’ STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 10 } DATED: November 19, 2024 . ou fi

zag HON. PEDRO V. CASTILLO 13 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

B52

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

I, _________________________, declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Boules v. United States of America et al., No. 2:23-cv-8891-CBM (PVCx) (this Action). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to Court-ordered sanctions. I agree not to disclose any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to anyone except in strict compliance with this Stipulated Protective Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after conclusion of this Action. I hereby appoint ______________________ of [business/address/phone] ______________________ as my California agent for service of process in connection with this Action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. Declared under the penalty of perjury under the Laws of the United States of America and the State of California on __/__/2_ in [City/State] _______________. ______________________________ [Printed] _______________________