Verduzco v. St. Mary's High School

Opinion

] 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 || SUSANA VERDUZCO, Case No. 2:23-CV-02269-KJM-CSK Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MODIFIED y STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 14 (ECF No. 32) ST. MARY’S HIGH SCHOOL, et al., I5 Defendants. 16 17 The Court has reviewed the parties’ stipulated protective order below (ECF No. 32), 18 || and finds it comports with the relevant authorities and the Court’s Local Rule. See L.R. 19 141.1. The Court APPROVES the protective order, subject to the following clarification. 20 The Court’s Local Rules indicate that once an action is closed, it “will not retain 21 || jurisdiction over enforcement of the terms of any protective order filed in that action.” L.R. 22 || 141.1(f); see Bylin Heating Sys., Inc. v. Thermal Techs., Inc., 2012 WL 13237584, at *2 23 ||(E.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2012) (noting that courts in the district generally do not retain jurisdiction 24 || for disputes concerning protective orders after closure of the case). Thus, the Court will not 25 || retain jurisdiction over this protective order once the case is closed. 26 27 Dated: October 1 - a O 0, 2024 ( + iy S CHI SOO KIM 4 verd2269.28 _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

1 LISA BLANCO JIMENEZ (SBN: 234671) NEUMILLER & BEARDSLEE, Mailing: P.O. Box 20 3 Stockton, CA 95201-3020 4 Office: 3121 W. March Lane, Suite 100 Stockton, CA 95219 5 Telephone: (209) 948-8200 Facsimile: (209) 948-4910 6 E-mail: ljimenez@neumiller.com

7 Attorneys for Defendant, ST. MARY’S HIGH SCHOOL 8

9 ADAM BLAIR CORREN (SBN: 183067) SPENCER D. SINCLAIR (SBN: 294340) 3425 Brookside Road, Suite B 11 Stockton, CA 95219-2388 Telephone: 209.478.2621 12 Facsimile: 209.478.3038 E-mail: acorren@correnlaw.com 13 ssinclair@correnlaw.com

14 Attorneys for Plaintiff, SUSANA VERDUZCO 15

18 SUSANA VERDUZCO, ) Case No. 2:23-CV-02269-KJM-CSK ) 19 Plaintiff, ) ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 20 vs. ) (DISCOVERY ONLY) ) 21 ST. MARY’S HIGH SCHOOL, and ) DOES 1 through 50, inclusive, ) 22 ) Defendants. ) 23 ) 24 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 26 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 27 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting or defending this litigation may be warranted. 1 Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 2 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use 3 extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the 4 applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that 5 this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; L.R. 6 141 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 7 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 8 2. DEFINITIONS 9 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 10 information or items under this Order. 11 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 12 generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 13 Civil Procedure 26(c). 14 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well 15 as their support staff). 16 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 17 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 18 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium 19 or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 20 transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 21 discovery in this matter. 22 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 23 litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 24 consultant in this action. 25 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House Counsel 26 does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 27 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 1 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action 2 but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on 3 behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 4 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 5 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 6 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 7 Material in this action. 8 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 9 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, 10 storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 11 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 13 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 14 Producing Party. 15 3. SCOPE 16 The protections conferred by this Stipulated Protective Order cover not only Protected 17 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected 18 Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any 19 testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected 20 Material. However, the protections conferred by this Stipulated Protective Order do not cover the 21 following information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a 22 Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a 23 result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public 24 record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the 25 disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the 26 information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of 27 Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 1 4. DURATION 2 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 3 Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order 4 otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and 5 defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion 6 and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the 7 time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 8 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 9 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 10 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to 11 limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 12 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 13 oral or written communications that qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, 14 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within 15 the ambit of this Order. 16 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 17 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 18 encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 19 other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. If it comes to a Designating Party’s 20 attention that information or items that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that 21 Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken 22 designation. 23 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, 24 e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or 25 Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated 26 before the material is disclosed or produced. 27 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 1 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 2 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 3 Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (or, alternatively, “CONFIDENTIAL PURSUANT TO 4 PROTECTIVE ORDER”) to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions 5 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 6 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). A Party or Non-Party 7 that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not designate them for 8 protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would like copied and 9 produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 10 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 11 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 12 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified 13 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that 14 contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 15 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 16 appropriate markings in the margins). 17 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, 18 that the Designating Party identify on the record all protected testimony, before the conclusion of the 19 deposition, hearing, or other proceeding or, alternatively, within thirty (30) days following written 20 notice from the deposition officer that the original transcript is available for reading, correcting, and 21 signing. The court reporter must be directed that pages of transcribed deposition testimony or 22 exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound and may not be 23 disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order and must be notified 24 by the Designating Party of any designation made after preparation of the transcript. 25 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 26 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the 27 container or containers in which the information or item is stored the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend. 1 If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to 2 the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 3 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 4 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 5 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 6 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in 7 accordance with the provisions of this Order. 8 5.4 Post-Order Designations. For qualifying information or items disclosed prior to 9 entry of this Stipulated Protective Order, any Party may designate the information or items as 10 Protected Material within thirty (30) days following entry by the court of this Order by either re- 11 serving the Protected Material with the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend thereon or identifying it by Bates 12 number(s) or other unique identifier. Upon timely designation, the Receiving Party must make 13 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 14 Order. 15 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 16 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 17 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 18 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, 19 or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a 20 confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original 21 designation is disclosed. 22 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process 23 by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each 24 challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must 25 recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph 26 of the Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must 27 begin the process by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other forms of communication 1 Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and 2 must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the 3 circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen 4 designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it 5 has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is 6 unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 7 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 8 intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality within 21 9 days of the initial notice of challenge, unless another deadline is agreed to by the parties. Each such 10 motion must be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied 11 with the meet and confer requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the 12 Designating Party to make such a motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or other 13 agreed upon deadline) shall automatically waive the confidentiality designation for each challenged 14 designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality 15 designation at any time if there is good cause for doing so, including a challenge to the designation 16 of a deposition transcript or any portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision 17 must be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the 18 meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 19 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating 20 Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose 21 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. 22 Unless the Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to 23 retain confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question 24 the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court 25 rules on the challenge. 26 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 27 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 1 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to 2 the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has 3 been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 5 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a 6 secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 7 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered 8 by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 9 information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 10 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as 11 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record. Any Outside Counsel of Record who is associated or 12 substituted into the case after entry of this Stipulated Protective Order must sign a copy of this Order 13 promptly and before he or she may be entitled to receive any discovery. 14 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 15 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation; 16 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure 17 is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 18 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 19 (d) the court and its personnel; 20 (e) court reporters and their staff; 21 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is 22 reasonably necessary and their Counsel (if any), who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 23 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered 24 by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal 25 Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 26 anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order. 27 /// 1 (g) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors 2 to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 4 (h) any mediator agreed upon by the Parties and his or her staff; and 5 (i) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 6 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 7 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 9 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 10 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 11 must: 12 1. promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 13 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 14 2. promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue 15 in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 16 this Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 17 3. cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by 18 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 19 4. If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 20 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, 22 unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear 23 the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material. Nothing in 24 these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action 25 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 26 /// 27 /// 1 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 4 Party in this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non- 5 Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this 6 Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 7 additional protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 9 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with 10 the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 11 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 12 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 13 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 14 Protective Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 15 description of the information requested; and 16 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 17 Party. 18 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court 19 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 20 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non- 21 Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its 22 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 23 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden 24 and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 25 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 27 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, 1 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 2 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 3 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 4 Be Bound” ( Exhibit A). 5 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 8 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties 9 are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to 10 modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 11 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 12 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by 13 the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 14 in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 15 12. MISCELLANEOUS 16 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 17 its modification by the court in the future. 18 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order, 19 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 20 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 21 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by 22 this Protective Order. 23 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or 24 a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the 25 public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected 26 Material must comply with L.R. 141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a 27 court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Receiving Party's 1 request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file 2 the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 3 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 4 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each 5 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. 6 As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 7 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether 8 the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written 9 certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) 10 by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material 11 that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 12 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 13 Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 14 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 15 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant 16 and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies 17 that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 18 Section 4 (DURATION).

20 Dated: October 2, 2024 NEUMILLER & BEARDSLEE A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 21 By: /s/ Lisa Blanco Jimenez

23 Attorneys for Defendant ST. MARY’S HIGH SCHOOL

24 Dated: October 2, 2024 LAW OFFICE OF CORREN & CORREN 25 By: /s/ Spencer D. Sinclair SPENCER D. SINCLAIR 27 Attorneys for Plaintiff SUSANA VERDUZCO