Reyes v. Five Diamond Cold Storage, Inc.

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: May 20, 2024
• Docket: 1:24-cv-00028
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

11 SARA REYES on behalf of herself, and those Case No. 1:24-cv-00028-JLT-SAB similarly situated and the State of California 12 ORDER RE STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 Plaintiff,

14 vs.

15 FIVE DIAMOND COLD STORAGE, INC., GROW SMART LABOR, INC., PEDRO 16 ARELLANO-MOYA, and JORGE ESTEBAN FUENTES 17

18 Defendants. 19

27 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use 4 for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties 5 hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 6 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 7 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 8 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 9 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective 10 Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rules 140-141 sets 11 forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks 12 permission from the court to file material under seal. 13 2. DEFINITIONS 14 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information 15 or items under this Order. 16 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 17 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 18 Civil Procedure 26(c). 19 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and In-House Counsel (as well 20 as their support staff). 21 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 22 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 23 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium 24 or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 25 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 26 discovery in this matter. 27 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 1 in this action. 2 2.7 In-House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. In-House 3 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 4 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 5 entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action 7 but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf 8 of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 9 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 10 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 11 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material 12 in this action. 13 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 14 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, 15 or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 16 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 17 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 18 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 19 Producing Party. 20 3. SCOPE 21 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as 22 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all 23 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 24 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 25 However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 26 information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving 27 Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of 1 through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure 2 or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the information 3 lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected 4 Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 5 4. DURATION 6 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 7 Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order 8 otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and 9 defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion 10 and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time 11 limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 12 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 13 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or 14 Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order should take care to limit 15 any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 16 Designating Party ought to designate for protection only those materials, documents, items, or oral or 17 written communications that qualify – so that other materials, documents, items, or communications 18 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 19 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are discouraged. Designations that are shown 20 to be clearly unjustified and that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 21 encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 22 other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 23 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 24 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party shall promptly notify all other Parties 25 that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 26 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, 27 e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or 1 before/at the time the material is disclosed or produced. 2 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 3 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 4 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party 5 affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion 6 or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 7 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 8 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not 9 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would 10 like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made 11 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified 12 the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 13 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified 14 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains 15 Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 16 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 17 markings in the margins). 18 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 19 Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other 20 proceeding, all protected testimony. However, the Designating Party may also designate the 21 deposition or portions of the deposition as Confidential by providing written notice within thirty (30) 22 days of the close of the deposition. 23 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 24 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or 25 containers in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion 26 or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, 27 shall identify the protected portion(s). 1 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right 2 to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the 3 Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with 4 the provisions of this Order. 5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 7 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 8 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, 9 or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a 10 confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation 11 is disclosed. 12 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by 13 providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each 14 challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice ought to 15 recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of 16 the Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin 17 the process by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other forms of communication are not 18 sufficient) within 14 days of the date of service of notice. In conferring, the Challenging Party must 19 explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the 20 Designating Party an opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, 21 and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A 22 Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this 23 meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the 24 meet and confer process in a timely manner. 25 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 26 intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Civil 27 Local Rule 7 (and in compliance with Civil Local Rules 140-141, if applicable) within 21 days of the 1 will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be accompanied by a 2 competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements 3 imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to make such a motion including 4 the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall be presumed to waive the 5 confidentiality designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may 6 file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is good cause for doing so, 7 including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or any portions thereof. Any motion 8 brought pursuant to this provision must be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the 9 movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 10 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. 11 Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary 12 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the 13 Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain 14 confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level 15 of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court rules on the 16 challenge. 17 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 19 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 20 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the 21 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been 22 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 23 DISPOSITION). 24 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a 25 secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 26 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by 27 the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 1 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees of 2 said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this 3 litigation; 4 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including In-House Counsel) of the Receiving Party 5 to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation; 6 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably 7 necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 8 (Exhibit A); 9 (d) the court and its personnel; 10 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 11 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have 12 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 13 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary 14 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless 15 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition 16 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material should be separately bound by the 17 court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective 18 Order; 19 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other 20 person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 21 (h) to agents of insurance companies that reasonably require such information, and who have 22 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); or 23 (i) the employee to whom a document relates or pertains and who has signed the 24 “Acknowledgement and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A). 25 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 26 LITIGATION 27 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 1 must: 2 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy 3 of the subpoena or court order; 4 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 5 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 6 Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 7 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 8 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 9 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 10 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before 11 a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained 12 the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 13 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material – and nothing in these provisions should be 14 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive 15 from another court. 16 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 17 LITIGATION 18 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this 19 action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 20 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing 21 in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 22 protections. 23 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non- 24 Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the 25 Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 26 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all 27 of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 1 this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 2 information requested; and 3 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 4 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 days 5 of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 6 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a 7 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control 8 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 9 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 10 protection in this court of its Protected Material. 11 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 13 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, 14 the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized 15 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 16 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 17 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 18 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 19 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 20 MATERIAL 21 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 22 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties 23 are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to 24 modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 25 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 26 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by 27 the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 1 12. MISCELLANEOUS 2 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 3 its modification by the court in the future. 4 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order 5 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information 6 or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives 7 any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 8 Order. 9 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or a 10 court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public 11 record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 12 must comply with Civil Local Rules 140-141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant 13 to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. Pursuant to Civil 14 Local Rules 140-141, a sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected 15 Material at issue is privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under 16 the law. If a Receiving Party's request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Civil Local 17 Rules 140-141 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 18 record pursuant to Civil Local Rules 140-141 unless otherwise instructed by the court. 19 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 20 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each 21 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 22 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 23 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the 24 Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to 25 the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 26 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 27 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 1 Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion 2 papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and 3 trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if 4 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute 5 Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 6 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 7 8 DATED: May 16, 2024 _____________________________________ Stan S. Mallison 9 Hector R. Martinez Cody A. Bolce 10 Attorneys for Plaintiff and the Plaintiff Class

12 DATED: May 16, 2024 _____________________________________ 13 Jacob Waschak Attorney for Defendants 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ [print or 4 type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the 5 Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern 6 District of California on [date] in the case of ___________ [insert formal name of the case and the 7 number and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the 8 terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply 9 could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I 10 will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 11 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 12 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern 13 District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even 14 if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 15 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 16 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as 17 my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related 18 to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 19 20 Date: ______________________________________ 21 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 22 23 Printed name: _______________________________ 24 25 Signature: __________________________________ 26 27 1 COURT ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY 3 |} ORDERED that: 4 1. The above stipulated protective order is ENTERED; 5 2. The provisions of the parties’ stipulation and this protective order shall remain in 6 effect until further order of the Court; 7 3. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States 8 District Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be 9 filed under seal will require a written request which complies with Local Rule 10 141; 11 4. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to 12 show either good cause or compelling reasons to seal the documents, depending 13 on the type of filing, Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th 14 Cir. 2009); Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th 15 Cir. 2016); and 16 5. If a party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the 17 Court, then the previously filed material shall be immediately accepted by the 18 court and become information in the public record and the information will be 19 deemed filed as of the date that the request to file the Protected Information under 20 seal was made. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. OF. nf ee 23 || Dated: _May 17, 2024 _ ef UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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