Hugo Ramirez v. Ameresco, Inc. ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, EASTERN DIVISION 10 ) 11 HUGO RAMIREZ, an individual on ) Case No. 5:24-CV-00949-KK-SPx behalf of himself and all others similarly ) 12 situated, ) (Removed from San Bernardino ) Superior Court Case No. 13 Plaintiff, ) CIVSB2406892) vs. ) 14 ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE AMERESCO, INC., a Delaware ) ORDER 15 corporation; BERNARD NICKELS ) INC., a New York corporation; and ) 16 DOES 1 through 50, inclusive; ) ) 17 Defendants. ) ) 18 19 20 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 21 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 22 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 23 and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. 24 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 25 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 26 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the 27 protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 28 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 1 legal principles. 2 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 3 This action is likely to involve commercial, financial, technical and/or 4 proprietary information, along with compensation information of individuals, for which 5 special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 6 prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and 7 information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial 8 information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other 9 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including information 10 implicating privacy rights of third parties), confidential compensation information, and 11 other information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be 12 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court 13 rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, 14 to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery 15 materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, 16 to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in 17 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the 18 litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is 19 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be 20 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without 21 a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, 22 and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 23 3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 24 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this 25 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under 26 seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the 27 standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file 28 1 material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to 2 judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive 3 motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City 4 and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors 5 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 6 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good 7 cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper 8 evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected 9 Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure 10 or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of 11 competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under 12 seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good 13 cause. 14 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 15 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief 16 sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos 17 v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type 18 of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party 19 seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and 20 legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence 21 supporting the application to file documents under seal must be provided by 22 declaration. 23 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its 24 entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 25 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the 26 confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. 27 Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety should include 28 1 an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 2 4. DEFINITIONS 3 4.1 Action: Case No. 5:24-CV-00949 – this pending federal lawsuit, 4 Hugo Ramirez v. Ameresco, Inc. et. al. 5 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 6 designation of information or items under this Order. 7 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information 8 (regardless of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify 9 for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 10 the Good Cause Statement. 11 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well 12 as their support staff). 13 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates 14 information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 15 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 16 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, 17 regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 18 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are 19 produced or generated in disclosures or responses in discovery. 20 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a 21 matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to 22 serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 23 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this 24 Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 25 outside counsel. 26 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, 27 association or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 28 1 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to 2 this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in 3 this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared 4 on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 5 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 6 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 7 support staffs). 8 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 9 Discovery Material in this Action. 10 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 11 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 12 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 13 and their employees and subcontractors. 14 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 15 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 16 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 17 Material from a Producing Party. 18 5. SCOPE 19 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 20 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 21 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected 22 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their 23 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 24 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 25 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 26 Protected Material at trial. 27 6. DURATION 28 1 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL 2 or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial 3 becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, 4 including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to 5 proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 6 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced 7 in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part 8 of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the 9 commencement of the trial. 10 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 11 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 12 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 13 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 14 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 15 only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written communications that 16 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for 17 which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this 18 Order. 19 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 20 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose 21 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 22 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 23 to sanctions. 24 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 25 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 26 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 27 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided 28 1 in this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery 2 Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so 3 designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 4 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 5 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 6 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 7 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 8 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 9 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 10 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 11 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). A Party or Non-Party that 12 makes original documents available for inspection need not designate them for 13 protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it would like 14 copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 15 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After 16 the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the 17 Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for 18 protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the 19 Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains 20 Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, 21 the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 22 appropriate markings in the margins). 23 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party 24 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 25 deposition all protected testimony. 26 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 27 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 28 1 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 2 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 3 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 4 portion(s). 5 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 6 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 7 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 8 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make 9 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 10 provisions of this Order. 11 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 12 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 13 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 14 Scheduling Order. 15 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 16 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 17 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint 18 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 19 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 20 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 21 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 22 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 23 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the 24 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing 25 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 26 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 27 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 28 1 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 2 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 3 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 4 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 5 Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 6 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 7 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 8 authorized under this Order. 9 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 10 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 11 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 12 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 13 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 14 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 15 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 16 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) 17 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 18 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 19 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 20 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (d) the court and its personnel; 22 (e) court reporters and their staff; 23 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 24 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action 25 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 26 (Exhibit A); 27 28 1 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 2 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 3 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 4 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 5 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not 6 be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment 7 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating 8 Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to 9 depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter 10 and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective 11 Order; and 12 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting 13 personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement 14 discussions. 15 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 16 IN OTHER LITIGATION 17 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 18 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 19 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 20 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such 21 notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 22 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 23 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 24 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a 25 copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 26 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 27 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the 28 1 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 2 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 3 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or 4 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 5 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 6 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 7 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 8 directive from another court. 9 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 10 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 11 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 12 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 13 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies 14 and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as 15 prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 16 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 17 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 18 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 19 confidential information, then the Party shall: 20 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non- 21 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 22 agreement with a Non-Party; 23 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 24 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 25 specific description of the information requested; and 26 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 27 Non-Party, if requested. 28 1 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court 2 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 3 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 4 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 5 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to 6 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 7 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense 8 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 9 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 10 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 11 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 12 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 13 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 14 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person 15 or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 16 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an 17 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 18 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 19 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 20 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 21 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 22 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 23 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 24 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 25 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 27 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 28 1 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to 2 the court. 3 14. MISCELLANEOUS 4 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 5 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 6 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 7 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 8 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 9 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 10 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 11 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected 12 Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be 13 filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 14 Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied 15 by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record 16 unless otherwise instructed by the court. 17 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 18 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 19 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 20 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 21 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 22 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 23 Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit 24 a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the 25 Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 26 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that 27 the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or 28 1 any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 2 Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 3 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 4 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 5 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. 6 Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to 7 this Protective Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 8 16. VIOLATION 9 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 10 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 11 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 12 13 Dated: September 30, 2024 D. LAW 14 15 By: /s/ Jonas Agle Jonas Agle 16 Attorney for Plaintiff Hugo Ramirez 17 18 Dated: September 30, 2024 CDF LABOR LAW LLP 19 20 By: /s/ Leigh A. White Leigh A. White 21 Attorney for Defendant Ameresco, Inc. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 Dated: September 30, 2024 FISHER & PHILLIPS LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Peter Lee Peter Lee 4 Attorney for Defendant Bernard Nickels Inc. 5 6 LOCAL RULE 5-4.3.4 SIGNATURE CERTIFICATION 7 I hereby certify that the content of this document is acceptable to Jonas Agle, 8 counsel of record for Plaintiff Hugo Ramirez, and Peter Lee, counsel of record for 9 Defendant Bernard Nickels. I, counsel of record for Defendant Ameresco, Inc., have 10 obtained authorization to affix their signatures to this document. 11 12 Dated: September 30, 2024 CDF LABOR LAW LLP 13 14 By: /s/ Leigh A. White Leigh A. White 15 Attorney for Defendant Ameresco, Inc. 16 17 18 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 20 DATED: October 10, 2024 ___________________________ 21 Sheri Pym 22 United States Magistrate Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 EXHIBIT A 2 D. Law, Inc. Emil Davtyan, State Bar No. 299363 3 emil@d.law David Yeremian, State Bar No. 226337 4 d.yeremian@d.law Natalie Haritoonian, State Bar No. 324318 5 n.haritoonian@d.law Matthew Carraher, State Bar No. 346860 6 m.carraher@d.law 880 E Broadway 7 Glendale, CA 91205 8 Attorneys for Plaintiff HUGO RAMIREZ 9 CDF LABOR LAW LLP 10 Leigh A. White, State Bar No. 167477 lwhite@cdflaborlaw.com 11 18300 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 800 Irvine, CA 92612 12 Telephone: (949) 622-1661 13 BARCLAY DAMON LLP Brian E. Whiteley (admitted pro hac vice) 14 bwhiteley@barclaydamon.com Carolyn M. Crowley (admitted pro hac vice) 15 ccrowley@barclaydamon.com 160 Federal Street, Suite 1001 16 Boston, MA 02110 Telephone: (617) 274-2900 17 Attorneys for Defendant 18 AMERESCO, INC. 19 FISHER & PHILLIPS LLP Nicole Golob, State Bar No. 190444 20 ngolob@fisherphillips.com Peter Y. Lee, State Bar. No. 318853 21 plee@fisherphillips.com 444 South Flower Street, Suite 1500 22 Los Angeles, CA 90071 Telephone: (213) 330-4450 23 Attorneys for Defendant 24 BERNARD NICKELS, INC. 25 26 27 28 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, EASTERN DIVISION 3 ) 4 HUGO RAMIREZ, an individual on ) Case No. 5:24-CV-00949 behalf of himself and all others similarly ) 5 situated, ) (Removed from San Bernardino ) Superior Court Case No. 6 Plaintiff, ) CIVSB2406892) vs. ) 7 ) AMERESCO, INC., a Delaware ) UNDERTAKING AND CONSENT 8 corporation; BERNARD NICKELS ) TO BE BOUND BY PROTECTIVE INC., a New York corporation ; and ) ORDER 9 DOES 1 through 50, inclusive; ) ) Action Filed: May 23, 2024 10 Defendants. ) ) 11 12 13 I, the undersigned, do depose on oath and state as follows: 14 (1) My current employer is _______________________________, and its 15 business address is _______________________________________ . 16 (2) I have received a copy of the Protective Order in the above-captioned 17 action, and I have carefully read and understand the provisions of the 18 Protective Order. I will comply with all the provisions of the Protective 19 Order. I will hold any Confidential Information so designated in 20 confidence, I will not disclose such information to anyone not qualified 21 under the Protective Order, and I will use such information for the 22 purposes of this action only. 23 (3) Promptly upon termination of this action, I will return all Confidential 24 Information to counsel for the party by whom I am employed or retained. 25 (4) I hereby submit to the jurisdiction of this Court for the purpose of 26 enforcement of the Protective Order in this action. 27 28 1 Signed under the penalties of perjury, this ___day of September, 2024. 2 ___________________________________ 3 Signature 4 5 ____________________________________ 6 Printed Name 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28