Secco v. Standard Insurance Company ( 2020 )

1 JORDAN S. ALTURA (SBN: 209431) jaltura@grsm.com 2 REBECCA A. HULL (SBN: 99802) rhull@grsm.com 3 GORDON REES SCULLY MANSUKHANI, LLP 275 Battery Street, Suite 2000 4 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 986-5900 5 Facsimile: (415) 986-8054 6 Attorneys for Defendant STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY 7 8 ROBERT J. ROSATI (SBN: 112006) robert@erisalg.com 9 RAQUEL M. BUSANI (SBN: 323162) raquel@erisalg.com 10 6485 North Palm Avenue, Ste.105 Fresno, California 93704 11 Telephone: 559-478-4119 Telefax: 559-478-5939 12 13 Attorneys for Plaintiff JANET SECCO 14 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 18 JANET SECCO, ) CASE NO. 2:20-cv-00426-KJM-CKD ) 19 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ) ORDER 20 vs. ) ) 21 THE STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY, DISCOVERY MATTER ) 22 Defendant ) ) 23 24 25 26 27 1 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 The proposed discovery in this action includes plaintiff Janet Secco’s intent to seek 3 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information, which The Standard Insurance 4 Company (“Standard”) contends is entitled to special protection from public disclosure and from 5 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation. Accordingly, the parties hereby 6 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 7 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses 8 to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 9 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 10 principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 11 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; 12 Local Rules 140 and 141 set forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that 13 will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal and/or 14 redact material as to which confidentiality is asserted. 15 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 16 Discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, 17 proprietary, or private information of Standard, for which special protection from public 18 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 19 It is expected that the discovery may include certain confidential and proprietary business 20 information and documents from Standard. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and 21 petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge 22 that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery 23 and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 24 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 25 principles. 26 2. DEFINITION 27 2.1 Action: the above captioned pending federal law suit. 1 information or items under this Order. 2 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information (regardless of 3 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under 4 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 5 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 6 support staff). 7 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 8 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 9 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 10 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other 11 things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures 12 or responses to discovery in this matter. 13 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 14 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert 15 witness or as a consultant in this Action. 16 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 17 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 18 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 19 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 20 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to 21 this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have appeared in this 22 Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that 23 party, including support staff. 24 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 25 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support 26 staffs). 27 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 1 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 2 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 3 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 4 subcontractors. 5 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 6 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 7 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 8 from a Producing Party. 9 3. SCOPE 10 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 11 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 12 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 13 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 14 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. 15 This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 16 4. DURATION 17 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as confidential or 18 maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available 19 to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by 20 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. 21 See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) 22 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 23 “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). 24 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of trial. 25 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 27 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order 1 appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of 2 material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions 3 of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are 4 not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 5 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that 6 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 7 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and 8 burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 9 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 10 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly 11 notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 12 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this 13 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 14 Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so 15 designated before the material is disclosed or produced. The parties hereby stipulate and agree 16 that all of Plaintiff’s health information, including all diagnosis, shall be automatically 17 designated as confidential notwithstanding any marking of the document confidential. This 18 includes, but is not limited to, any mention of Plaintiff’s private health information. 19 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 20 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 21 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 22 Party affix, at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL 23 legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the 24 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 25 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 26 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need 27 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents 1 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 2 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 3 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 4 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 5 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or 6 portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 7 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings on the document). 8 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the 9 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition. 10 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 11 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of 12 the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If 13 only a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the 14 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 15 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 16 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 17 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely 18 correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the 19 material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 20 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 21 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 22 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 23 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the Court’s 24 discovery dispute resolution process and reference this protective order in its notice. 25 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall 26 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., 27 to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 1 confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level 2 of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules 3 on the challenge. 4 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 6 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for 7 prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be 8 disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. 9 When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of 10 section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 11 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 12 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized 13 under this Order. 14 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 15 ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may 16 disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 17 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 18 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 19 information for this Action; 20 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 21 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 22 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 23 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 24 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A hereto); 25 (d) the Court and its personnel; 26 (e) court reporters and their staff; 27 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 1 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A hereto); 2 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 3 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 4 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 5 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that 6 the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep 7 any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 8 Bound” (Exhibit A hereto), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the 9 Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 10 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 11 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 12 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 13 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 14 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 15 OTHER LITIGATION 16 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 17 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that 18 Party must: 19 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 20 copy of the subpoena or court order; 21 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in 22 the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 23 this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; 24 and 25 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 26 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 27 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 1 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order 2 issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party 3 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material 4 and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving 5 Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 6 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED 7 IN THIS LITIGATION 8 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in 9 this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 10 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 11 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 12 additional protections. 13 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 14 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement 15 with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 16 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or 17 all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 18 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in 19 this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 20 information requested; and 21 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if 22 requested. 23 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14 days of 24 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 25 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely 26 seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession 27 or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 1 burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 2 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 4 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 5 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 6 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 7 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 8 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 9 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 11 PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 13 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 14 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 15 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery 16 order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of 17 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 18 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product 19 protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order 20 submitted to the Court. 21 12. MISCELLANEOUS 22 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 23 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 24 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 25 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or 26 producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective 27 Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of 1 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 2 Protected Material must comply with Local Rules 140 and 141. Protected Material may only be 3 filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected 4 Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, 5 then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed 6 by the Court. 7 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 8 After the Final Disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 days of a 9 written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material 10 to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 11 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format 12 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is 13 returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 14 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that 15 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 16 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 17 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 18 Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 19 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 20 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 21 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 22 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective 23 Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 24 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures 25 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 26 /// 27 /// 1 IT IS SO STIPULATED BY THE UNDERSIGNED PARTIES, THROUGH THEIR 2 RESPECTIVE COUNSEL OF RECORD. 3 4 Dated: June 25, 2020 /s/ Raquel M. Busani (as authorized on 6.25.20) Robert J. Rosati 5 Raquel M Busani Attorney for Plaintiff 6 JANET SECCO 7 Dated: June 25, 2020 GORDON REES SCULLY MANSUKHANI, LLP 8 9 By /s/ Rebecca A. Hull 10 Jordan S. Altura Rebecca A. Hull 11 Attorneys for Defendant STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 QOS 6 TEMING INET NS NE MUO I te AY □□ UV tT 1 ORDER 2 IT IS SO ORDERED, with the following amendments and clarifications: 3 1. The parties shall comply with the provisions and procedures of Local Rules 140 4 || and 141 with respect to sealing or redaction requests. To the extent that the parties’ stipulation 5 || conflicts with the Local Rules, the Local Rules shall govern. 6 2. Prior to filing any motion related to this stipulated protective order or other 7 || discovery motion, the parties shall first exhaust informal meet-and-confer efforts and otherwise 8 || comply with Local Rule 251. 9 3. Nothing in this order limits the testimony of parties or non-parties, or the use of 10 || certain documents, at any court hearing or trial—such determinations will only be made by the 11 || court at the hearing or trial, or upon an appropriate motion. = 12 4. Pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(f), the court will not retain jurisdiction over 2 3 13 || enforcement of the terms of this stipulated protective order after the action is terminated. 14 = ||Dated: July 13, 2020 Pi DP ae hae: CAND fe Ko. OG 5 16 CAROLYN K. DELANEY ' UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 18 19 20 17.426.spo 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 42. Caca Nn 93-01 a ANAXVE □□□ □□□□ 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, ______________________ [print or type full name], of _________________________ 4 [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued on _______, 2020 in the case of Janet 6 Secco v. The Standard Insurance Company, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of 7 Sacramento, Case No. 2:20-cv-00426-KJM-CKD. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all 8 the terms of this 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 solemnly 10 promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this 11 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions 12 of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 14 Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 15 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 16 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 17 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] 18 as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings 19 related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 20 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 23 24 Printed name: _______________________________ 25 Signature: __________________________________ 26 27