Slade Douglas v. City of Los Angeles

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: March 18, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-07439
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SLADE DOUGLAS, an individual, CASE NO. 2:20-cv-07439- 11 FMO(PDx) 12 Plaintiff, Honorable Fernando M. Olguin, 1st St. Crtrm 6D 13 v. Mag. Patricia Donahue, Roybal, Crtrm 580

14 CITY OF LOS ANGELES; OFFICER YABANA; OFFICER WHEELER; STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 15 AND DOES 1 TO 10, ORDER

16 Defendant.

17 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 18 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 19 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 20 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 21 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 22 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 23 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 24 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 25 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 26 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in 27 Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to 1 file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 2 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party 3 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 4 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 5 This action was filed on August 20, 2019, pursuant to federal and California 6 law. Plaintiff alleges LAPD Officers Yabana and Wheeler acted unlawfully in 7 taking him into custody. The legal claims set forth in the Complaint for Damages 8 include the following: Unconstitutional detention and Excessive Force in violation 9 of the Fourth Amendment; Retaliation in violation of the First Amendment; 10 Violation of Due Process; Violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; as well 11 as state law claims including Bane Act; Battery; False Arrest and Imprisonment; 12 Negligence and Negligent Employment and Supervision. 13 Since the Court scheduled dates in this case, the parties have exchanged 14 written discovery and wish to disclose certain confidential and otherwise private 15 information subject to a protective order. Plaintiff wishes to disclose certain 16 medical records which Plaintiff contends are subject to the right to privacy. See, e.g., 17 Tucson Woman’s Clinic v. Eden, 379 F.3d 531, 551 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Whalen 18 v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589, 599 (1977); Domingo v. Brennan, 690 F. App’x 928, 930 (9th 19 Cir. 2017) The City wishes to disclose the three (3) related body worn videos which 20 depict the incident, including the interior of Plaintiff’s apartment and his 21 transportation to the hospital. The City may also agree to disclose certain unrelated 22 Internal Affairs investigations which the City contends are also subject to the right 23 to privacy. Soto v. City of Concord, 162 F.R.D. 603, 620 (N.D. Cal. 1995). 24 Further, the LAPD is currently conducting an Internal Affairs investigation 25 with regard to Plaintiff’s arrest and lawsuit. The investigation is ongoing and 26 therefore, not available to be disclosed. Defense counsel will inform Plaintiff’s 27 counsel whether the investigation is deemed closed prior to the commencement of 1 2. DEFINITIONS 2 2.1 Action: This pending federal lawsuit. 3 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 4 designation of information or items under this Order. 5 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 6 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 7 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 8 the Good Cause Statement. 9 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 10 their support staff). 11 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 12 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 13 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 14 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 15 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 16 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 17 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 18 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 19 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 20 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 21 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 22 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 23 counsel. 24 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 25 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 26 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 27 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and 1 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 2 that has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 3 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 4 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 5 support staffs). 6 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 7 Discovery Material in this Action. 8 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 9 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 10 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 11 and their employees and subcontractors. 12 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 13 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 14 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 15 Material from a Producing Party. 16 3. SCOPE 17 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 18 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 19 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 20 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 21 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 22 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 23 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 24 4. DURATION 25 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 26 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees 27 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be 1 or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and 2 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, 3 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time 4 pursuant to applicable law. 5 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 6 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 7 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 8 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 9 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 10 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 11 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items 12 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 13 within the ambit of this Order. 14 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 15 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 16 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 17 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 18 Party to sanctions. 19 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 20 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 21 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 22 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 23 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 24 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 25 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 26 produced. 27 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 1 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 2 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 3 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 4 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 5 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 6 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 7 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 8 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 9 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 10 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 11 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 12 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 13 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 14 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 15 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 16 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 17 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 18 in the margins). 19 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 20 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 21 deposition all protected testimony. 22 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 23 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 24 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 25 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information 26 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 27 protected portion(s). 1 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 2 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 3 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 4 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 5 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 6 Order. 7 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 8 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 9 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 10 Scheduling Order. 11 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 12 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 13 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 14 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 15 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 16 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 17 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 18 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 19 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 20 challenge. 21 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 22 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 23 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 24 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 25 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 26 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 27 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 1 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 2 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 3 authorized under this Order. 4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 8 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 9 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 12 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (d) the court and its personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff; 18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 19 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 20 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 22 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 24 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 25 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) they will 26 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 2 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 3 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 4 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 5 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 6 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 7 IN OTHER LITIGATION 8 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 9 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 10 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 11 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 12 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 13 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 14 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 15 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 16 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 17 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 18 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 19 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 20 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 21 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 22 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 23 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 24 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 25 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 26 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 27 / / / 1 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 4 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 5 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 6 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 7 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 9 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 10 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 11 confidential information, then the Party shall: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 13 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 14 agreement with a Non-Party; 15 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 16 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 17 specific description of the information requested; and 18 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 19 Non-Party, if requested. 20 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 21 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 22 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 23 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 24 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 25 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 26 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 27 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 1 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 4 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 5 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 6 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 7 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 8 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 9 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 11 PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 13 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 14 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 15 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever 16 procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 17 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and 18 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 19 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 20 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 21 protective order submitted to the court. 22 12. MISCELLANEOUS 23 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 24 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 25 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 26 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 27 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 1 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 2 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 3 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 4 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material 5 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 6 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material 7 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information 8 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 9 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 11 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 12 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 13 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 14 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 15 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 16 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 17 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies 18 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 19 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 20 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 21 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 22 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 23 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 24 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 25 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 26 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 27 Section 4 (DURATION). 1 || 14. VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 3 |) including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 || ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 5 6 || DATED — March 17,2021 7 || SCHONBRUN SEPLOW HARRIS HOFFMAN & ZELDES LLP 8 9 || /s/ gol ushingion John Washington, Esq. 10 || Paul Hoffman, Esq. Attorneys for Plaintiff

12 13 || DATED: March 17, 2021 14 || MICHAEL N. FEUER, City Attorney || KATHLEEN A. KENEALY, Chief Deputy City Atty. SCOTT MARCUS, Senior Asst. City Atty. 16 || CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Asst. City Atty. + 17 || By: /s/ J livckha LD. Mepherd 18 || SUREKHA A. SHEPHERD, Deputy City Atty. Attorneys for Defendants 19 20 21 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 23 || DATED: March 18, 2021 24 Ff}, . LB 35 alucey long kue_ HON. PATRICIA DONAHUE 26 || United States Magistrate Judge 27 28

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California 8 on [date] in the case of Slade Douglas v. City of Los Angeles; Officer Yabana; 9 Officer Wheeler; and Does 1 to 10, USDC Case No. 2:20-cv-07439-FMO-PD. I 10 agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective 11 Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me 12 to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I 13 will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this 14 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with 15 the provisions of this Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 17 for the Central District of California for enforcing the terms of this Stipulated 18 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of 19 this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full 20 name] of _______________________________________ [print or type full address 21 and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection 22 with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated 23 Protective Order. 24 Date: ______________________________________ 25 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27