Premier Construction and Remode, Inc. v. Mesa Underwriters Special Insurance Company

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedAugust 14, 2019
Docket5:18-cv-02582
StatusUnknown

This text of Premier Construction and Remode, Inc. v. Mesa Underwriters Special Insurance Company (Premier Construction and Remode, Inc. v. Mesa Underwriters Special Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Premier Construction and Remode, Inc. v. Mesa Underwriters Special Insurance Company, (C.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

1 James C. Nielsen (Bar No. 111889) Stephen W. Cusic (Bar No. 111353) 2 Stuart E. Jones (Bar No. 104566) NIELSEN, HALEY & ABBOTT LLP 3 100 Smith Ranch Road, Suite 350 San Rafael, CA 94903 4 (415) 693-0900/FAX: (415) 693-9674 jnielsen@nielsenhaley.com 5 tkhuu@nielsenhaley.com sjones@nielsenhaley.com 6 Attorneys for defendant 7 MESA UNDERWRITERS SPECIALTY 8 INSURANCE COMPANY

9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA - EASTERN DIVISION 12 13 PREMIER CONSTRUCTION AND Case No. 5:18-cv-02582-JGB (KKx) 14 REMODEL, INC., a California corporation, and ROBERT DEVILLE, an individual, 15 STIPULATION AND PROPOSED Plaintiffs, PROTECTIVE ORDER 16 v. 17 Trial Date: March 24, 2020 MESA UNDERWRITERS SPECIALTY 18 INSURANCE COMPANY, a New Jersey corporation; and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive, 19 Defendant. 20 21 22 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 23 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or 24 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 25 purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 26 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 27 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 28 - 1 - STIPULATION TO PROTECTIVE ORDER AND PROPOSED ORDER 5:18-cvg-02582-JGB (KKx) 1 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 2 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 3 principles. 4 5 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 6 For example, Plaintiffs have formally requested production of the claims manuals that were 7 operative and used by Defendant Mesa Underwriters Specialty Insurance Company (“Mesa”) 8 across the pendency of the underlying claim. Mesa has identified those manuals, and represents: 9  That the manuals were prepared by an affiliated insurance company, Selective Insurance 10 Company of America, Inc. (“SICA”). 11  That both Mesa and SICA are members of the Selective Insurance Group of insurance 12 companies. 13  That SICA has been delegated the administrative function of preparing and updating the 14 claims manual for use by the other member insurers. 15  That the claims manual is meant as an online reference for claims personal. 16  That manual is continually updated and is republished periodically to include changes, and 17 that it was republished as effective on certain dates, four times in 2016, four times in 2017, 18 and five times in 2018. 19  That the versions operative across 2016 through 2018 run between 340 and 355 pages each. 20  That the drafting, maintenance, updating and republishing of this claims manual constitutes 21 a significant undertaking. 22  That Selective Group of insurers consider it to be and treat it as a trade secret and a 23 confidential document, and that the first page of the manual, each time it is updated and 24 republished, states just below the title that it is “NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION.” 25 26 Such confidential and proprietary materials and information may be privileged or otherwise 27 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common 28 law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of - 2 - STIPULATION TO PROTECTIVE ORDER AND PROPOSED ORDER 5:18-cvg-02582-JGB (KKx) 1 disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties 2 are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses 3 of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the 4 end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is 5 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as 6 confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it 7 has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why 8 it should not be part of the public record of this case. 9 10 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 11 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective 12 Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets 13 forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party 14 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the 15 public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with 16 non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana 17 v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors 18 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 19 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a 20 specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal 21 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. 22 The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— 23 without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought 24 to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute 25 good cause. 26 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, 27 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought 28 shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific - 3 - STIPULATION TO PROTECTIVE ORDER AND PROPOSED ORDER 5:18-cvg-02582-JGB (KKx) 1 Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, 2 document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must 3 articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested 4 sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal 5 must be provided by declaration. 6 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its entirety will not 7 be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a 8 redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise 9 protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents 10 under seal in their entirety should include an explanation ofwhy redaction is not feasible. 11 12 4. DEFINITIONS 13 4.1 Action: PREMIER CONSTRUCTION AND REMODEL, INC., a California 14 corporation, and ROBERT DEVILLE, an individual, Plaintiffs, v. MESA UNDERWRITERS 15 SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, a New Jersey corporation; and DOES 1 through 100, 16 inclusive, Defendant, Case No. 5:18-cv-02582-JGB (KKx). 17 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information 18 or items under this Order. 19 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 20 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 21 Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement.

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Related

Pintos v. PACIFIC CREDITORS ASS'N
605 F.3d 665 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu
447 F.3d 1172 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
Notice v. DuBois
187 F.R.D. 19 (D. Massachusetts, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
Premier Construction and Remode, Inc. v. Mesa Underwriters Special Insurance Company, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/premier-construction-and-remode-inc-v-mesa-underwriters-special-cacd-2019.