Veribi, LLC v. Compass Mining Inc

District Court, C.D. California·Decided October 17, 2023·No. 2:22-cv-04537·Unknown

Opinion

1 Alan E. Engle (SBN 224779) GUNDZIK GUNDZIK HEEGER LLP alan.engle@meenlegal.com Aaron C. Gundzik (State Bar No. 132137) 2 MEADOR & ENGLE Aaron.gundzik@gghllp.com 3 1115 Seal Way 14011 Ventura Blvd, Suite 206E Seal Beach, CA 90740 Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 4 Telephone: (310) 428-6985 Telephone: 818.290.7461 Facsimile: (714) 386-5368 Facsimile: 818.918.2316 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff, Veribi, LLC ARMSTRONG TEASDALE LLP 6 Michael A. Gehret (State Bar No. 247869) 7 Peter H. Donaldson (pro hac vice) Telephone: 801.401.1600 8 Facsimile: 314.621.5065 9 Attorneys for Defendant, Compass 10 Mining, Inc.

11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 13 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 14 VERIBI, LLC, a Nevada limited Case No.: 2:22-CV-04537-MEMF-JPR 15 liability company, Hon. Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong 16 Plaintiff, Magistrate: Hon. Jean P. Rosenbluth 17 v. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 18 COMPASS MINING, INC., a ORDER GOVERNING Delaware corporation, CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION 19 Defendant. 20 21 1. INTRODUCTION 22 1.1 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 23 Discovery in this action may involve production of confidential, proprietary, 24 or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 25 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 26 Accordingly, the Parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 27 1 || does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 2 || that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 3 || 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 5 || 12.3 below, that this Order does not entitle them to file Confidential Information 6 || under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 7 || and the standards that will be applied when a Party seeks permission from the Court 8 || to file material under seal. 9 1.2 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 10 On September 28, 2023, the Court held a hearing after briefing and found that 11 || good cause exists for entry of a Stipulated Protective Order in this matter. The 12 || parties therefore submit this Proposed Joint Protective Order pursuant to the Court’s 13 || September 23, 2023 Order. 14 This dispute is between Plaintiff Veribi, LLC (“Veribi’”’) and Defendant 15 || Compass Mining, Inc. (“Compass”). The dispute involves Compass’s termination 16 || of its dealings with a foreign hosting services provider BitRiver AG (“BitRiver’”) 17 || who has facilities in Russia, following the addition of BitRiver to the U.S. 18 || Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control’s Specially Designated 19 || Nationals list. 20 The dispute in this case and related discovery may implicate Compass’s 21 || commercially sensitive information, as well as its customers’ confidential 22 || information, possibly including, Compass contends, the following: 23 e The specific addresses of Compass’s hosting locations; 24 e The specific terms of Compass’s hosting agreements with hosting centers, 25 including contractual hosting rates; 26 e Compass customers’ personally identifying information, including names, 27 addresses, and financial information; Case No. 2:22-CV-04537-MEMF-JPR ° [PROPOSED] STIP. PROTECTIVE ORDER

1 e Serial numbers and MAC addresses of Compass customers’ cryptocurrency 2 miners; 3 e Financial records and information, including bank account numbers for both 4 Compass and its customers; and 5 e Compass’s private, strategic business discussions and negotiation tactics with 6 hosting providers. 7 (a) Potential harm should certain relevant materials be disclosed publicly 8 While Compass does not believe all of the information listed above is 9 || relevant, discoverable, or admissible in this case, and accordingly reserves all rights, 10 || if the information listed above were to be disclosed publicly, it might impose 11 || significant, particularized harm on Compass and its customers. The risks from 12 || disclosure provide good cause for a protective order with a “CONFIDENTIAL” 13 || designation. See, e.g., DeHate v. Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC, 2020 WL 7084551, at 14 || *4(C.D. Cal. Oct. 8, 2020) (granting protective order to prevent public disclosure of 15 || surveillance videos, finding good cause because “the public could exploit that 16 || information to commit theft or other undesirable acts”); Estate of Sanchez v. County 17 || of Stanislaus, 2019 WL 1959579 (E.D. Cal. May 2, 2019) (noting discovery rules 18 || must balance the potential for abuse, including “damage to the reputation and 19 || privacy of litigants and third parties”). 20 (b) Potential harm should certain relevant materials be disclosed publicly 21 || or to the parties in this Action 22 Some of the information listed above is nonpublic and extremely 23 || commercially sensitive and might impose harm if disclosed to the public or to 24 || Veribi. In light of these risks, there is good cause for a protective order with an 25 || attorneys’ eyes only provision. See, e.g., Kaseberg v. Conaco, LLC, 2016 WL 26 || 3997600 (S.D. Cal. July 26, 2016) (attorneys’ eyes only provision appropriate to 27 || prevent disclosure of licensing fees, finding that good cause exists because Case No. 2:22-CV-04537-MEMF-JPR ° [PROPOSED] STIP. PROTECTIVE ORDER

1 disclosure would “severely impact” 2 defendants’ ability to negotiate future licenses); DeHate, 2020 WL 7084551 at *4 3 (possible damage to defendant’s competitive advantage constituted good cause to 4 prevent disclosure of policies and procedures, as well as security measures). 5 2. DEFINITIONS 6 2.1 Action: This case, Veribi, LLC v. Compass Mining, Inc., 2:22-CV- 7 04537-MEMF-JPR, pending in the United States District Court for 8 the Central District of California. 9 2.2 “AEO” Information or Items: Extremely sensitive “CONFIDENTIAL” 10 Information or Items, the disclosure of which to another Party or Nonparty would 11 create a substantial risk of serious harm that could not be avoided by less restrictive 12 means. 13 2.3 Challenging Party: a Party or Nonparty that challenges the designation 14 of information or items under this Order. 15 2.4 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 16 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 17 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and as specified above in the 18 Good Cause Statement. 19 2.5 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 20 their support staff). 21 2.6 Designating Party: a Party or Nonparty that designates information or 22 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 23 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 24 2.7 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 25 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 26 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 27 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 1 2.8 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 2 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 3 an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 4 2.9 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party to this Action. 5 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 6 counsel. 7 2.10 Nonparty: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 8 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.

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