Stolz v. Travelers Commercial Ins. Co. ( 2020 )

1 Craig E. Famer (SBN 61086) (cfarmer@farmercurtislaw.com) 2 Dawn D. Curtis (SBN 227076) (dcurtis@farmercurtislaw.com) 3 FARMER CURTIS, LLP 3620 American River Drive, Suite 218 4 Sacramento, CA 95864 Telephone: (916) 679-6565; Fax: (916) 679-6575 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 EDWARD ROYCE STOLZ, II 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 EDWARD ROYCE STOLZ II, an CASE NO. 2:18-CV-01923-KJM-KJN 11 individual STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE 12 Plaintiff, ORDER REGARDING PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF 13 PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND vs. PRIVATE MATERIALS 14 TRAVELERS COMMERCIAL Action Filed: 7/11/18 15 INSURANCE COMPANY, a Assigned to: Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller Connecticut corporation, et al. U.S. District Judge 16 Referred to: Hon. Kendall J. Newman Defendants. U.S. Magistrate Judge 17 18 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and between Plaintiff 19 EDWARD ROYCE STOLZ II (“STOLZ”) and Defendant TRAVELERS 20 COMMERCIAL INSURANCE COMPANY (“TRAVELERS”), by their 21 undersigned attorneys, that a Protective Order be entered in this action pursuant to 22 United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Rule l 43(b), and a trial 23 protective order pursuant to L.R. 141.l(b)(2). Pursuant to General Order No. 492, 24 L.R. 141.1, the parties stipulate as follows: 25 1. As used herein, information designated as 26 CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” as hereinafter provided, includes any document 27 1 to any disc overy request, interrogatory answers, any response to a request to admit, 2 and deposition transcripts, together with all information contained therein and 3 derived therefrom, and all copies, excerpts, or summaries thereof. 4 2. If any party in good faith believes a document or other discovery 5 response constitutes, contains, or reflects privileged, private, or other confidential 6 matter, that party may designate such document or discovery response a 7 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” in accordance with the procedures set forth in 8 paragraphs 3 and 4, hereof. Any document of discovery response so designated, and 9 all information contained therein and derived therefrom, and all copies, excerpts and 10 summaries thereof, shall be considered “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” for 11 purposes of this Stipulation and Protective Order. 12 3. To designate any information as protected information under this 13 Stipulation and Protective Order, the party choosing to make such designation shall: 14 a. In the case of documents and other tangible things, mark such 15 matters “CONFIDENTAL/PRIVILEGED” at or prior to the time of 16 production. 17 b. In the case of depositions, state on the record that the deposition 18 or a specified portion thereof involves confidential information, or by so 19 advising all counsel within ten (10) days of receipt of the “rough” transcript. 20 During this period, all deposition transcripts and the information contained 21 therein shall be deemed designated CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED.” The 22 certified court reporter will affirmatively mark any portion of the deposition 23 on the record as “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED.” 24 4. All information designated as “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” shall 25 be used solely for the prosecution or defense of this action. Such Information shall 26 not be used in or for any other cases, proceedings, disputes or for any commercial, 27 business, competitive or any other purpose whatsoever and shall not be disclosed, 1 except as o therwise set forth in this Stipulation and Protection Order. Such 2 information shall not be presumed to be discoverable in other cases, proceedings or 3 disputes, even if relevant, and the burden shall be on the party seeking discovery to 4 establish that access to this information is proper and necessary. It shall not be 5 disclosed in any manner to anyone other than the following: 6 a. counsel who are actively engaged in the prosecution or defense 7 of this action and employees or agents of such counsel assisting in the conduct 8 of this action; 9 b. experts or consultants assisting counsel in this action; 10 c. parties and consultants of any party where deemed necessary by 11 counsel to assist in the prosecution or defense of this action; 12 d. witnesses and their counsel during the course of, or in the 13 preparation for hearings or depositions in this action where deemed necessary 14 by counsel to assist in the prosecution or defense of this action; 15 e. the mediator assigned by the Court or mutually agreed to by the 16 parties’ attorneys to mediate this case and any of his or her employees she/he 17 deems necessary to effectively mediate this case; 18 f. the United States District Court for the Eastern District of 19 California and its personnel, including stenographic reporters regularly 20 employed by the Court; 21 g. stenographic reporters not regularly employed by the Court, who 22 are engaged in such proceedings as are necessarily incident to the conduct of 23 this action; and 24 h. other persons only in accordance with paragraph 7 of this 25 Stipulation and Order. 26 27 1 5. Each person to whom any information designated 2 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” is disclosed shall be bound by the terms of this 3 Stipulation and Protective Order. 4 6. Prior to disclosure of any information designated 5 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” under this Stipulation and Protective Order, 6 each person to whom such information is to be disclosed (excluding the Court, 7 counsel of record and legal assistants or other law firm employees working under 8 their supervision in the prosecution or defense of this action) shall execute the form 9 attached hereto as APPENDIX A. Counsel shall maintain all such executed forms on 10 file throughout the pendency of this action. 11 7. In the event that counsel for any party determines that the prosecution 12 or defense of this action requires that any “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” 13 information be disclosed to persons not otherwise authorized therein, such counsel 14 shall provide to counsel for the party that produced such material written notice of 15 the intended disclosure (which notice shall specify with particularity the information 16 to be disclosed and the identity, including name, title, and employer, of the 17 otherwise unauthorized person) not less than seven (7) days prior to disclosure, or 18 such shorter period as is agreeable to the party that produced such material. If, 19 within four (4) days of receipt of such notice, counsel for the party which produced 20 the material objects in writing to such disclosure to the counsel giving notice, the 21 information shall not be disclosed unless the Court so orders. A Court order to 22 disclose information as described in this paragraph may be obtained on an ex parte 23 basis. 24 8. The designation of specific material as 25 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” shall be subject to challenge only after the 26 parties have met and conferred in order to resolve any dispute regarding such 27 designation. If the parties are unable to informally resolve a dispute regarding a 1 “CONFID ENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” designation, any party may seek to obtain a 2 court order ruling that the disputed information or document is or is not 3 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED.” This order may be sought on an ex parte basis. 4 9. If any party wishes to include any information subject to this 5 Stipulation and Protective Order or any summary, abstract or description thereof in 6 any document filed with the Court in connection with the resolution of a hearing 7 other than trial, such document or such portion thereof that contains 8 “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” information shall be filed with the Court under 9 seal in an envelope marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED.” All material so filed 10 shall be maintained by the Clerk of the Court separate from public records in this 11 action and shall be released only upon further Order of the Court. 12 10. Each person to whom any information subject to this Stipulation and 13 Protective Order is disclosed is hereby prohibited from divulging such material or 14 any information contained therein or from exploiting in any way such material or 15 information for his or her own benefit, and from using such material or information 16 for any purposes or in any manner not connected with the prosecution or defense of 17 this action. 18 11. Entering into, agreeing to, and/or complying with the terms of this 19 Stipulation and Order shall not: 20 a. operate as an admission that any particular designated material 21 constitutes, contains or reflects trade secrets, proprietary or commercial 22 information, or privileged or other confidential matter; 23 b. prejudice in any way the right of any party to object to the 24 production of documents or information it considers not subject to discovery 25 or to seek a Court determination whether particular designated material should 26 be produced; 27 1 c. prejudice in any way the right of any party to apply to the Court 2 to rescind or modify the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order or to 3 move the Court for a further protective order; 4 d. prejudice in any way the right of any party to use, or object to the 5 use of any designated material at any hearing or at trial; 6 e. affect the obligations of any party or person to comply with the 7 terms of any compulsory process; or, 8 f. affect any existing rights of the parties or any member of the 9 public to review, or republish materials, designated or not, that have been used 10 at trial or submitted as a basis for adjudication. 11 12. This Stipulation and Protective Order shall have no effect upon, and its 12 scope shall not extend to, any party’s use of its own documents, testimony and 13 information. 14 13. This Stipulation and Protective Order shall be effective from the date on 15 which it is entered by the Court and shall apply from that date forward to all 16 discovery and documents in this matter, whether produced before or after that date. 17 14. Within sixty (60) days after final disposition of this action (including all 18 appellate proceedings), all “CONFIDENTIAL/PRIVILEGED” material and all 19 copies, excerpts, and extracts (excluding excerpts or extracts incorporated into any 20 privilege memoranda), except for such material which becomes part of the record in 21 this action, shall be destroyed or returned to the person producing the material. Any 22 party to this Stipulation and Protective Order may seek assurances that such 23 destruction or return has taken place by serving a demand in writing to counsel for 24 the other party for such assurance, which shall be responded to in writing within 25 thirty (30) days of receipt thereof. 26 15. The consent of the undersigned attorneys to this Stipulation and 27 Protective Order shall be deemed binding upon such attorneys’ professional, 1 stenograph ic, paralegal, clerical and other employees, as well as upon such 2 attorneys’ clients of record herein. 3 4 DATED: March 5, 2020 FORAN GLENNON PALANDECH PONZI & RUDLOFF PC 5 6 By: /s/ Edward P. Murphy Edward P. Murphy 7 Attorneys for Defendant Travelers Commercial Insurance Company 8 9 DATED: March 5, 2020 FARMER CURTIS, LLP 10 11 By: /s/ Craig E. Farmer Craig. E. Farmer 12 Attorneys for Plaintiff Edward Royce Stolz II 13 14 ORDER 15 The Court has reviewed the parties’ stipulated protective order, which complies with the 16 relevant authorities and the Court’s applicable local rule. See L.R. 141.1(c);1 see also Phillips ex 17 rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir. 2002) (“Generally, the 18 public can gain access to litigation documents and information produced during discovery unless 19 the party opposing disclosure shows ‘good cause’ why a protective order is necessary.”) Therefore, 20 the Court GRANTS the request subject to the following clarification. 21 It is unclear as to the parties’ intent concerning the duration of the Court’s jurisdiction 22 1 The Court’s Local Rules instruct the parties, when requesting a protective order, to 23 include in their submission: 24 (1) A description of the types of information eligible for protection under the order, with the description provided in general terms sufficient to reveal the nature of 25 the information (e.g., customer list, formula for soda, diary of a troubled child); (2) A showing of particularized need for protection as to each category of 26 information proposed to be covered by the order; and 27 (3) A showing as to why the need for protection should be addressed by a court order, as opposed to a private agreement between or among the parties. 1 || regarding this protective order. The Local Rules indicate that once this action is closed, “unless 2|| otherwise ordered, the Court will not retain jurisdiction over enforcement of the terms of any 3 || protective order filed in that action.” L.R. 141.1(f). Courts in the district generally do not agree tc 4|| retain jurisdiction after closure of the case, and the Court sees no reason to do so here. See, e.g., 5 || MD Helicopters, Inc. v. Aerometals, Inc., 2017 WL 495778 (E.D. Cal., February 03, 2017). Thus. for clarity, the undersigned informs the parties that once the case is closed, the court will not retait 7 || jurisdiction over this protective order. g || Dated: March 10, 2020 Fensbl A Abar 10 KENDALL J. NE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 stol.1923 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 APPENDIX A 1 The undersigned hereby acknowledges having read the annexed Stipulation 2 and Protective Order entered in the above-entitled action on _____________, and 3 understands the terms thereof, and agrees to be bound by said Stipulation and 4 Protective Order and by such other orders as may be made by the Court respecting 5 the discovery of confidential material in this action. 6 In addition, the undersigned agrees that, except as set forth in said Stipulation 7 and Protective Order, he/she will not publish any copy of any confidential material 8 given to him/her, and will not communicate the contents of such confidential 9 material to any person not otherwise authorized to receive such material according to 10 the Stipulation and Protective Order, and agrees to hold such confidential material in 11 confidence according to the terms of the Stipulation and Protective Order. 12 In addition, the undersigned agrees that at the conclusion of his/her duties in 13 connection with the above entitled action, all confidential material received by 14 him/her, and all copies, extracts, Abstracts, charts and summaries thereof, whether 15 written or otherwise recorded, will be returned to the person from whom such 16 material was received. The undersigned understands that a violation of the 17 Stipulation and Protective Order may result in civil or criminal contempt penalties. 18 19 20 Dated: _____________ BY: ____________________________ 21 Print Name: ______________________ 22 23 24 25 26 27