M.S. v. Riordan

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: September 3, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-00536
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 MARK E. FERRARIO, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 01625 2 KARA B. HENDRICKS, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 07743 3 WHITNEY WELCH-KIRMSE, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 12129 4 ALIX R. GOLDSTEIN, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 16540 5 GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP 10845 Griffith Peak Drive, Suite 600 6 Las Vegas, Nevada 89135 Telephone: (702) 792-3773 7 Facsimile: (702) 792-9002 Email: ferrariom@gtlaw.com 8 hendricksk@gtlaw.com welchkirmsew@gtlaw.com 9 alix.goldstein@gtlaw.com Counsel for Defendant Clark County School District 10 11 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA 13 M.S., a minor by and through his Parents, CASE NO. 2:25-cv-00536-CDS-BNW VANESSA VALLADARES and MICHAEL 14 SAAVEDRA, 15 Plaintiff, STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE 16 v. ORDER 17 CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT; CAROLE RIORDAN, individually and in her 18 capacity as Plaintiff’s former teacher of record; DOES I-X, and ROE CORPORATIONS I-X, 19 Defendants. 20 21 Pursuant to the Stipulation contained herein, by and among counsel for Plaintiff M.S., by 22 and through his parents VANESSA VALLADARES and MICHAEL SAAVEDRA (“Plaintiff”), 23 counsel of record for Defendant CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT (“CCSD”), and 24 counsel for Defendant CAROLE RIORDAN (“Riordan”), the Court hereby finds as follows: 25 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 26 1. Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 27 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 28 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 1 Accordingly, the Parties hereby jointly stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following 2 Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order (hereinafter “Order”). The parties 3 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses 4 to discovery, or any categories of information not specifically addressed herein, and that the 5 protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or 6 items that are entitled to CONFIDENTIAL treatment under the applicable legal principles, and 7 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” as described herein. The parties further acknowledge, as set 8 forth further below, that this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order does not 9 entitle them to file CONFIDENTIAL information under seal or otherwise change Federal or 10 Local Rules, procedures, and standards to be applied when a party seeks permission from the 11 court to file material under seal. The “Litigation” shall mean the above-captioned case, M.S. v. 12 Clark County School District, et al., filed in the United States District Court, District of Nevada, 13 Case Number 2:25-cv-00536-CDS-BNW. 14 2. “Documents” or “Information” shall mean and include any documents (whether in 15 hard copy or electronic form), records, correspondence, analyses, assessments, statements (financial 16 or otherwise), responses to discovery, tangible articles or things, whether documentary or oral, and 17 other information provided, served, disclosed, filed, or produced, whether voluntarily or through 18 discovery or other means, in connection with this Litigation. A draft or non-identical copy is a 19 separate document within the meaning of these terms. 20 3. “Party” (or “Parties”) shall mean one party (or all parties) in this Litigation, and their 21 in-house and outside counsel. “Producing Party” shall mean any person or entity who provides, 22 serves, discloses, files, or produces any Documents or Information. “Receiving Party” shall mean any 23 person or entity who receives any such Documents or Information. 24 4. The privacy of students is protected under federal law whether they are parties to the 25 Litigation or not. As a school district that receives federal funding, CCSD is bound by the Family 26 Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) and is not at liberty to disclose personally identifying 27 information of its students without written consent or court order. The Parties acknowledge that 28 information that could be reasonably likely to lead to admissible evidence in this Litigation could 1 contain information that is protected by FERPA. In addition, personnel files of employees involved 2 in an incident are private in nature. As a result, their use must be limited to protect the individuals’ 3 fundamental right to privacy guaranteed by the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments of 4 the U.S. Constitution. See, El Dorado Savings & Loan Assoc. v. Superior Court of Sacramento 5 County, 190 Cal. App. 3d 342 (1987). Accordingly, the Parties agree that, in conjunction with 6 discovery proceedings in this Litigation, the Parties may designate any Document, thing, material, 7 testimony, or other Information derived therefrom, which is entitled to confidential treatment under 8 applicable legal principles, as “CONFIDENTIAL” under the terms of this Confidentiality Agreement 9 and Protective Order (hereinafter “Order”), and that anything designated as such shall not be provided 10 or made available to third parties except as permitted by, and in accordance with, the provisions of 11 this Order. Confidential information includes information that qualifies for confidential treatment 12 under applicable legal principles, which may include information contained in personnel files of 13 CCSD employees and/or information that has not been made public and contains trade secret, 14 proprietary and/or sensitive business or personal information, and/or any (personal) information about 15 students that is protected by FERPA. 16 5. In addition, if any Party requests documents or other evidence that are subject to 17 FERPA, the Parties acknowledge that either a motion be filed with the Court to compel the 18 production of the same or the following procedure be followed: 19 a. The Parties will submit a stipulation to the Court identifying the records to 20 be produced and requesting a Court Order approving the notice and disclosure of information; 21 b. Upon receipt of the signed Court Order, CCSD will provide the Order 22 along with a joint letter notifying the affected parties of the right to object to the disclosure of 23 their student’s information. 24 c. Unless the affected party files an objection with the Court within ten (10) 25 days of receipt of notice of the Order, the producing party shall within five (5) days after the 26 expiration of the ten-day time period, produce the information. 27 d. If the affected party or their representative files an objection to disclosure, 28 any party may request that the Court review the objection to determine its validity and/or review 1 the objectionable material at issue in order to make a final determination as to whether such 2 information shall be disclosed. 3 e. The disclosure of FERPA protected information will be marked confidential 4 and produced pursuant to the Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order. 5 6. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 6 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under 7 the appropriate standards. Indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. 8 7. CONFIDENTIAL Documents shall be so designated by marking or stamping each 9 page of the Document produced to or received from a Party with the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” 10 The application of the legend must be made in a manner so as not to render the documents 11 illegible, illegible after photocopying, or incapable of being subjected to Optical Scanning 12 Recognition. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 13 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 14 markings in the margins). 15 8. Testimony taken at a deposition may be designated as CONFIDENTIAL within 16 forty-five (45) days before the close of discovery or ten (10) business days of receipt of the 17 transcript in any form if the deposition takes place after the aforementioned 45-day period. 18 Arrangements shall be made with the court reporter taking and transcribing such deposition to 19 separately bind such portions of the transcript and deposition exhibits containing Information 20 designated as CONFIDENTIAL, and to label such portions appropriately. CONFIDENTIAL 21 Information shall be maintained in strict confidence by the Parties who receive such information, 22 shall be used solely for the purposes of this Litigation, and shall not be disclosed to any person 23 except: 24 a. The United States District Court, District of Nevada, or any other court to 25 which this matter may be transferred (the “Court”), so long as the party seeking to file a 26 confidential document under seal complies with the Ninth Circuit’s directives in Kamakana v. 27 City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006) and the Court’s electronic filing 28 procedures set forth in Local Rule 10-5; 1 b. In the event of an appeal, the United States Court of Appeals (the 2 “Appellate Court”) and/or the United States Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”), so long as 3 that document is filed under seal; 4 c. The attorneys of record in this Litigation and their co-shareholders, co- 5 directors, partners, employees, and associates who are assisting in the Litigation (collectively 6 hereafter referred to as “Outside Counsel”); 7 d. A Party, or an officer, director, or employee of a Party or of a Party’s 8 affiliate, as long as any such person agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of this 9 Agreement; 10 e. Subject to the terms of Paragraph 13 below, experts or consultants and 11 their staff, retained by the Parties and/or Outside Counsel in this Litigation for the purposes of 12 this Litigation; 13 f. Any person identified on the document itself as having created, sent, 14 received, or otherwise already viewed, the document; 15 g. Any person testifying at deposition in this matter; 16 h. The parent or legal guardian of any student that is the subject of the 17 document itself; 18 i. Any other person, only if the Receiving Party has given written notice to 19 the Producing Party of an intent to disclose specified CONFIDENTIAL Information to said 20 person, who shall be identified by name, address, phone number, and relationship, if any, to the 21 Receiving Party, and the Producing Party has not provided a written objection to the disclosure 22 within ten (10) business days of delivery of the notification. In the event of an objection, no 23 disclosure shall be made pending the resolution of the objection. If the disclosure includes 24 information that is protected by FERPA, the objection can only be resolved by stipulation of the 25 Parties and a Court Order, which includes a provision allowing CCSD to provide no less than 26 twenty (20) days’ notice to the parents of the student(s) that may be implicated in any disclosure. 27 Before any person may receive Documents or Information pursuant to this subparagraph, he or 28 she must comply with the requirements of Paragraph 13 below. 1 9. If a witness is providing, or is provided with, CONFIDENTIAL Information during 2 a deposition, counsel for the Producing Party may request that all persons other than the witness 3 and persons entitled by this Order to have access to the CONFIDENTIAL Information leave the 4 deposition room during that portion of the deposition other than the court reporter and 5 videographer. Failure of any person to comply with such a request will constitute sufficient 6 justification for the witness to refuse to answer the question, or for the Producing Party to demand 7 that CONFIDENTIAL Information not be provided to the witness, pending resolution of the issue. 8 10. All designations of Information as CONFIDENTIAL by the Producing Party must 9 be made in good faith and must be based upon applicable legal principles. 10 11. A Party may object to the designation of particular Information as 11 CONFIDENTIAL by giving written notice to the Party designating the disputed Information. Any 12 Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt 13 challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, 14 substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the 15 litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not 16 to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation is disclosed. The written notice 17 objecting to the designation of particular Information as CONFIDENTIAL shall identify the 18 Information to which the objection is made and shall specify the basis for the objection. If the 19 Parties cannot resolve the objection within fifteen (15) business days after the time the notice is 20 received, it shall be the obligation of the Party designating the Information as CONFIDENTIAL to 21 file an appropriate motion requesting that the Court determine whether the disputed Information 22 should be subject to the terms of this Protective Order. If such a motion is filed within fifteen (15) 23 business days after the date the Parties fail to resolve the objection, the disputed Information shall 24 be treated as CONFIDENTIAL under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on the 25 motion. If the designating Party fails to file such a motion within the prescribed time, the disputed 26 Information shall lose its designation as CONFIDENTIAL and shall not thereafter be treated as 27 CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with this Protective Order. In connection with a motion filed 28 under this provision, the Party designating the Information as CONFIDENTIAL shall bear the 1 burden of establishing that the disputed Information qualifies to be treated as CONFIDENTIAL 2 based upon applicable legal principles. 3 12. While protected by this Order, any Information designated CONFIDENTIAL 4 shall be held in strict confidence by each person to whom it is disclosed; shall be used solely 5 for the purposes of this Litigation; and shall not be used for any other purpose, including, 6 without limitation, use in any other lawsuit. Documents and Information previously produced 7 by the Parties may be designated “Confidential” within thirty (30) days after the date of this 8 Order. 9 13. With respect to outside experts or other persons pursuant to Paragraph 8, to 10 become an authorized expert or other person entitled to access to CONFIDENTIAL Information, 11 the expert or other person must be provided with a copy of this Order and must sign a certification 12 in the form attached as Exhibit A hereto acknowledging that he/she has carefully and completely 13 read, understands, and agrees to be bound by this Order. The Party on whose behalf such a 14 Certification is signed shall retain the original Certification. 15 14. Notwithstanding any other provision herein, nothing shall prevent a Party from 16 revealing CONFIDENTIAL Information to a person who created or previously received (as an 17 addressee or by way of copy) such Information. 18 15. The inadvertent production of any Information without it being properly marked 19 or otherwise designated CONFIDENTIAL at the time of production shall not be deemed to waive 20 any claim of confidentiality with respect to such Information. If a Producing Party, through 21 inadvertence, produces any CONFIDENTIAL Information without marking or designating it as 22 such in accordance with the provisions of this Order, the Producing Party may, promptly on 23 discovery, furnish a substitute copy properly marked along with written notice to all Parties (or 24 written notice alone as to non-documentary Information) that such Information is entitled to 25 CONFIDENTIAL treatment under applicable legal principles and should be treated as such in 26 accordance with the provisions of this Order. Each receiving person must treat such Information 27 as CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with the notice from the date such notice is received. 28 Disclosure of such CONFIDENTIAL Information prior to the receipt of such notice shall not be 1 deemed a violation of this Confidentiality Agreement. A Receiving Party who has disclosed such 2 CONFIDENTIAL Information prior to the receipt of such notice shall take steps to cure such 3 disclosure by requesting return of the original document and substituting it with the properly 4 marked one. 5 16. A copy of this Order shall be shown to each attorney acting as counsel for a Party 6 and to each person to whom CONFIDENTIAL Information will be disclosed. 7 17. Nothing in this Order shall be construed as an admission or agreement that any 8 specific Information is or is not confidential, subject to discovery, relevant, or admissible in 9 evidence in any future proceeding. 10 18. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its modification by 11 the court in the future. 12 19. The Parties acknowledge that this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and 13 Protective Order does not entitle them to file CONFIDENTIAL Information under seal. Any 14 Party seeking to include CONFIDENTIAL Information in a motion or other pleading or as an 15 exhibit or attachment to a motion or other pleading shall seek to file it under seal pursuant to the 16 Federal Rules Governing Sealing and Redacting Court Records or by other proper means. The 17 Parties agree not to oppose such motions if the document is properly marked as CONFIDENTIAL 18 Information. If a motion or pleading filed with the Court discloses CONFIDENTIAL 19 Information, such designated portions shall be redacted to the extent necessary to conceal such 20 information in any motion or pleading filed publicly with the Court, pending ruling by the Court 21 on a motion to file it under seal. Unredacted motions or pleadings containing CONFIDENTIAL 22 Information shall be filed under seal, if the Court agrees after proper motion. When a Party, in 23 good faith, determines that it is necessary to bring the specific content of such CONFIDENTIAL 24 Information to the attention of the Court in the body of a motion or other pleading, then it shall 25 file a motion seeking to disclose the CONFIDENTIAL Information to the Court in camera or by 26 such other means as the Court may deem appropriate. Such motion may disclose the general 27 nature, but shall not disclosure the substance, of the CONFIDENTIAL Information at issue. 28 / / / 1 20. If a Party wishes to use CONFIDENTIAL Information at a public proceeding, such 2 as a hearing before the Court or at trial, it shall notify the Court and the other Parties to this action of 3 that fact at the time the hearing or trial commences, and the Court may then take whatever steps it 4 may deem necessary to preserve the confidentiality of said information during the course of, and after, 5 the public proceeding. 6 21. The Parties shall comply with the requirements of Local Rule 10-5, and the Ninth 7 Circuit’s decision in Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 8 2006), with respect to any documents filed under seal in this matter. 9 22. This Order shall not be construed to prevent any Party from making use of or 10 disclosing Information that was lawfully obtained by a Party independent of discovery in this 11 Litigation, whether or not such material is also obtained through discovery in this Litigation, or from 12 using or disclosing its own CONFIDENTIAL Information as it deems appropriate. 13 23. If either Party becomes required by law, regulation, or order of a court or 14 governmental entity to disclose any CONFIDENTIAL Information that has been produced to it 15 under the terms of this Order, such Party will reasonably notify the other Parties, in writing, so 16 that the original Producing Party has an opportunity to prevent or restrict such disclosure. The 17 Party required to disclose any CONFIDENTIAL Information shall use reasonable efforts to 18 maintain the confidentiality of such CONFIDENTIAL Information and shall cooperate with the 19 Party that originally produced the Information in its efforts to obtain a protective order or other 20 protection limiting disclosure; however, the Party required to disclose the Information shall not 21 be required to seek a protective order or other protection against disclosure in lieu of, or in the 22 absence of, efforts by the Producing Party to do so. 23 24. Upon termination of this Litigation, either by settlement or other action, any Party 24 and its counsel that obtained CONFIDENTIAL Information through discovery shall, upon 25 request, return all such CONFIDENTIAL Information to the Producing Party or certify as to its 26 destruction, except that Counsel may retain CONFIDENTIAL Information solely for archival 27 purposes. The restrictions of this Protective Order shall apply to Counsel for as long as they hold 28 such archival Documents. 1 25. The obligation to treat all Information designated as CONFIDENTIAL in 2 || accordance with the terms of this Order and not to disclose such CONFIDENTIAL Information 3 || shall survive any settlement or other termination of this Litigation. 4 26. The Parties may seek modification of this Order by the Court at any time, by 5 || stipulation or for good cause. 6 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 7 DATED this 29" day of August, 2025. 8 |} GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP ARIAS SANGUINETTI WANG & TEAM LLP 9 /s/ Kara B. Hendricks /s/ Chad Aronson 10 |}MARK E. FERRARIO GREGG A. HUBLEY Nevada Bar No. 01625 Nevada Bar No. 7386 11 |)KARA B. HENDRICKS CHRISTOPHER A.J. SWIFT Nevada Bar No. 07743 Nevada Bar No. 11291 12 |} WHITNEY WELCH-KIRMSE CHAD ARONSON Nevada Bar No. 12129 Nevada Bar No. 14471 13 |] ALIX R. GOLDSTEIN 7201 W. Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 570 Nevada Bar No. 16540 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 14 || 10845 Griffith Peak Drive, Suite 600 Las Vegas, Nevada 89135 MARIANNE C. LANUTI 15 || Counsel for Defendant Clark County Nevada Bar No. 7784 School District LAW OFFICES OF MARIANNE C. LANUTI 16 658 Falcon Summit Ct. GARIN LAW GROUP Henderson, Nevada 89012 17 Counsel for Plaintiff 18 /s/ Lisa J. Zastrow LISA J. ZASTROW 19 || Nevada Bar No. 9727 DAVID T. OCHOA 20 || Nevada Bar No. 10414 9900 Covington Cross Drive, Suite 210 21 ||Las Vegas, Nevada 89144 Counsel for Defendant Carole Riordan 22 23 ORDER 24 In consideration of the stipulation by the parties, and with good cause appearing, 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 DATED this □□□ dayof September 2925. 27 les are, 28 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I hereby certify that on August 29, 2025, I caused the foregoing document to be 3 electronically filed with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send 4 notification of such filing to the CM/ECF participants registered to receive such service. 5 6 /s/ Andrea Flintz An employee of GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 EXHIBIT A 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 5 M.S., a minor by and through his Parents, CASE NO. 2:25-cv-00536-CDS-BNW VANESSA VALLADARES and MICHAEL 6 SAAVEDRA, 7 Plaintiff, 8 CERTIFICATION REGARDING v. STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY 9 AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT; ORDER 10 CAROLE RIORDAN, individually and in her 11 capacity as Plaintiff’s former teacher of record; DOES I-X, and ROE CORPORATIONS I-X, 12 Defendants. 13 14 15 I have read the Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement & Protective Order in the above- 16 captioned case. I understand the terms of the Order, I agree to be fully bound by the terms of the 17 Order, and I hereby submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District 18 of Nevada for purposes of enforcement of the Order. 19 Date: _____________________ Signature: __________________________ 20 21 Signatory’s Name, Business Affiliation, and Business Address: 22 ___________________________________ 23 ___________________________________ 24 ___________________________________ 25 26 27 28