Taylor D. Florian v. Equifax Information Services LLC ( 2024 )

1 Sylvia Bolos MI Bar No. P78715 2 Admitted pro hac vice 3 Consumer Attorneys 8245 N. 85th Way 4 Scottsdale, AZ 85258 5 T: (248) 406-6025 F: (718) 715-1750 6 E: sbolos@consumerattorneys.com 7 Jenna Dakroub, CA # 350170 8 CONSUMER ATTORNEYS 9 6345 Balboa Boulevard, Suite 247 10 Encino, CA 91316 T: (602) 807-1525 11 F: (718) 715-1750 12 E: jdakroub@consumerattorneys.com 13 Attorneys for Plaintiff 14 Taylor D. Florian 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 WESTERN DIVISION 18 19 20 TAYLOR D. FLORIAN, Case No. 2:24-cv-00367-AB-AJR 21 Plaintiff, [PROPOSED] STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 22 vs. 23 EQUIFAX INFORMATION 24 SERVICES, LLC, TRANS UNION 25 LLC; Defendants 26 27 1. GENERAL 28 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve 1 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special 2 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting 3 this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and 4 petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 5 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or 6 responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and 7 use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential 8 treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as 9 set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle 10 them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 11 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party 12 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 13 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and 14 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or 15 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 16 use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 17 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other things, 18 confidential business or financial information, information regarding confidential 19 business practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial 20 information (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), 21 information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged 22 or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case 23 decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to 24 facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, 25 to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to 26 ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in 27 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the 28 litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is 1 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be 2 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated 3 without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public 4 manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this 5 case. 6 2. DEFINITIONS 7 2.1 Action: Taylor Florian v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, et al.; 8 Case No. 2:24-cv-00367-AB-AJR 9 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 10 of information or items under this Order. 11 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 12 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection 13 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good 14 Cause Statement. 15 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 16 support staff). 17 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 18 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 19 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 20 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 21 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 22 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 23 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 24 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 25 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 26 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 27 28 1 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 2 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 3 counsel. 4 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 5 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 7 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 8 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that 9 has appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff. 10 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 11 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 12 support staffs). 13 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 14 Discovery Material in this Action. 15 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 16 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 17 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 18 and their employees and subcontractors. 19 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 20 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 22 from a Producing Party. 23 24 3. SCOPE 25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 26 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted 27 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 28 1 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties 2 or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 3 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 4 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 5 6 4. DURATION 7 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced 8 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this 9 protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members 10 of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific 11 factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the 12 trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 13 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 14 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 15 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend 16 beyond the commencement of the trial. 17 18 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 19 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 20 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 21 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 22 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 23 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 24 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications 25 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 26 this Order. 27 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 28 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 1 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 2 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 3 to sanctions. 4 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 5 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 6 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 7 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 8 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 9 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 10 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 11 produced. 12 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 13 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 14 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 15 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend 16 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 17 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 18 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 19 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 20 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 21 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 22 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 23 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 24 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents 25 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 26 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing 27 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 28 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions 1 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 2 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 3 margins). 4 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify 5 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition. 6 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 7 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 8 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 9 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 10 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 11 portion(s). 12 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 13 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 14 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 15 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 16 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 17 Order. 18 19 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 20 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 21 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 22 Scheduling Order. 23 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 24 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq. Any discovery motion must strictly 25 comply with the procedures set forth in Local Rules 37-1, 37-2, and 37-3. 26 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding 27 shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an 28 improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 1 other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 2 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 3 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled 4 under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 5 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 6 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 7 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 8 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 9 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 10 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 11 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 12 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 13 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 14 authorized under this Order. 15 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 16 otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 17 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 18 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 19 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 20 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 21 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 22 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 23 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 24 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 25 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 26 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 27 (d) the Court and its personnel; 28 (e) court reporters and their staff; 1 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 2 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 3 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 4 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 5 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 6 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 7 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 8 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they 9 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 10 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 11 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed 12 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 13 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 14 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 15 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 16 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 17 18 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 19 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 20 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 21 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 23 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 24 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 25 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 26 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 27 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 28 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 1 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 2 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 3 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 4 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 5 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 6 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 7 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 8 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 9 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 10 directive from another court. 11 12 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 13 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 14 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 15 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 16 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 17 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 18 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 19 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce 20 a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an 21 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential 22 information, then the Party shall: 23 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 24 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 25 with a Non-Party; 26 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 27 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 28 specific description of the information requested; and 1 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 2 Party, if requested. 3 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14 4 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 5 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. 6 If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce 7 any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality 8 agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court 9 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 12 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 13 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 14 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 15 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 16 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 17 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 18 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 19 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 20 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 21 22 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 23 PROTECTED MATERIAL 24 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 25 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 26 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 27 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 28 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 1 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 2 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 3 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 4 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 5 to the Court. 6 7 12. MISCELLANEOUS 8 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 9 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 10 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 11 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 12 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 13 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 14 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 15 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 16 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 17 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 18 Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file under 19 seal. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, 20 then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless 21 otherwise instructed by the Court. 22 23 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 24 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by 25 the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the 26 Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 27 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other 28 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected 1 Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written 2 certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the 3 Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 4 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms 5 that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, 6 summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 7 Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 8 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 9 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, 10 and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected 11 Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material 12 remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 || 14. VIOLATION OF ORDER 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 3 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 4 || sanctions. 5 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 6 7 DATED:03/25/2024 8 9 || By: 4/Sylvia Bolos Sylvia Bolos 10 || Admitted pro hac vice 11 Jenna Dakroub, CA # 350170 CONSUMER ATTORNEYS 12 || Attorneys for Plaintiff 13. || Taylor D. Florian 14 || By: /s/Alice Hodsden 15 || Alice M. Hodsden SEYFARTH SHAW, LLP 16 Attorneys for Defendant 17 || Zquifax Information Services, LLC 18 By: /s/Jennifer Wade 19 || Jennifer Wade QUILLING, SELANDER, LOWNDS, 20 || WINSELTT & MOSER, P.C. 31 || Attorneys for Defendant Trans Union LLC 22 23 24 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 26 || DATED: 3/25/24 07 HON. Aj JOEL RICHLIN United States Magistrate Judge 28 14 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 2 3 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ 4 [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States 6 District Court for the Central District of California on ____________ [date] in the 7 case of Taylor Florian v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, et al.; Case No. 2:24- cv-00367-AB-AJR]. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 8 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so 9 comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I 10 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that 11 is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 12 compliance with the provisions of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 14 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 15 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 16 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [full 17 name] of _______________________________________ [full address and 18 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 19 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 20 Order. 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 City and State where signed: _________________________________ 23 24 Printed name: _______________________________ 25 26 Signature: __________________________________ 27 28