Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3 ( 2021 )

1 Stacey A. Campbell, Colo. Bar No. 38378 (appearing pro hac vice) 2 CAMPBELL LITIGATION, P.C. 1410 N. High Street 3 Denver, CO 80218 Tel: (303) 536-1833 4 Email: Stacey@campbell-litigation.com 5 Stephen W. Robertson, #228708 Alexander L. Nowinski, #304967 6 HARDY ERICH BROWN & WILSON A Professional Law Corporation 7 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 200 Sacramento, California 95814 8 (916) 449-3800 Email: srobertson@hebw.com 9 anowinski@hebw.com 10 Attorneys for Defendant AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 14 RUBY CHACKO, No: 2:19-cv-01837-JAM-DB 15 Plaintiff, PARTIES’ JOINT MOTION FOR THE 16 vs. E ON RT DR EY R O [FF .R A .C S .T PI . P 2U 6(L c)A ; T LE ocD a lP RR uO leT sE 1C 41T .1IV , E 143(a)(1)]; AND ORDER 17 AT&T UMBRELLA BENEFIT PLAN NO. 3, 18 Defendant. 19 Defendant AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3 (“Defendant” or the “Plan”) and Plaintiff 20 Ruby Chacko (“Plaintiff” or “Chacko”), by and through their respective undersigned counsel, 21 hereby submits this stipulated motion to request that the Court enter a Stipulated Protective Order 22 to regulate and limit the dissemination of highly confidential, proprietary, and/or personally 23 identifying information in this case. The parties state as follows in support of this Joint Motion: 24 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by the parties the following Stipulated 25 Protective Order required in order to protect the parties from any injury associated with the misuse 26 of disclosed or exchanged information: 27 28 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 1.1 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 3 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 4 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, 5 the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective 6 Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 7 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and 8 use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under 9 the applicable legal principles. 10 1.2 Good Cause Statement. Good cause exists to enter a protective order in this case. 11 Defendant and Plaintiff agree that certain disclosures, discovery requests, depositions, and other 12 proceedings in connection with the above-captioned case, may require the disclosure of highly 13 confidential, private, medical and/or proprietary information. Disclosure or dissemination of these 14 materials could result in substantial harm to the parties’ interests, as well as to third parties. 15 The parties do not wish unreasonably to impede or burden the discovery process but, at the 16 same time, recognize an obligation to take reasonable steps to safeguard legitimate privacy concerns. 17 The parties believe that issuance of a protective order, upon stipulated terms and conditions, will 18 balance both parties’ rights and needs for reasonable discovery with their interests in keeping 19 sensitive and/or proprietary information confidential. 20 2. DEFINITIONS 21 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 22 information or items under this Order. 23 2.2 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how 24 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things which a party claims should be protected 25 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and which should be considered Protected Material 26 under this Order. 27 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well 28 as their supporting personnel, such as other attorneys at the firm, paralegals, legal secretaries, data 1 entry clerks, legal clerks and/or private data entry, document management and photocopying 2 services). 3 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 4 produces in this litigation, including through disclosures or in discovery as “HIGHLY 5 CONFIDENTIAL.” 6 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium 7 or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 8 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated with regard to disclosures or 9 discovery in this matter. This would include documents produced pursuant to the voluntary 10 disclosure requirements of Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, documents produced 11 pursuant to Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, interrogatory answers, deposition 12 testimony, and all other information that may be disclosed in the course of discovery in this action, 13 as well as compilations, summaries, or excerpts of such materials. 14 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 15 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 16 consultant in this action. 17 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House 18 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 19 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 20 entity not named as a Party to this action. 21 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action 22 but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on 23 behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 24 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 25 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their personnel). 26 2.11 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 27 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, 28 storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 1 2.12 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 2 “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL.” 3 2.13 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 4 Designating Party. 5 3. SCOPE 6 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 7 (as defined above), but also 8 (a) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; 9 (b) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; 10 (c) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might 11 reveal Protected Material. 12 (d) any portion of any discovery answer or response, affidavit, declaration, brief or other 13 paper, filed with the Court, or as an exhibit to such paper that discusses such documents. 14 (e) any deposition transcript or portion thereof that is designated “HIGHLY 15 CONFIDENTIAL” under the terms of this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective 16 Order; and 17 (f) all information contained in such documents or depositions referencing the HIGHLY 18 CONFIDENTIAL material. 19 However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 20 information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving 21 Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of 22 publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record 23 through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the 24 disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the 25 information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use 26 of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 27 28 1 4. DURATION 2 This Protective Order shall remain in effect for the duration of the action unless terminated 3 by stipulation executed by Counsel or pursuant to Court Order. The provisions of this Protective 4 Order shall continue to be binding after the termination of this action, insofar as they restrict the 5 communication, treatment and use of information subject to this Protective Order. 6 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or 8 Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to 9 limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 10 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 11 oral or written communications that qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, 12 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within 13 the ambit of this Order. 14 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 15 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 16 encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens 17 on other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 18 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 19 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties 20 that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 21 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 22 (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.3 below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure 23 or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated 24 before the material is disclosed or produced. 25 5.3 Access to Protected Material shall be restricted in accordance with the following 26 provisions: 27 (a) Protected Material and any information extracted from them, which have been 28 designated “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” shall be used solely for the purposes of prosecuting or 1 defending this action, and for no other purposes, including business, governmental or commercial, 2 or in any other administrative, arbitration or judicial proceedings or actions; 3 (b) Protected Material shall only be disseminated to or shown to: (1) Counsel; (2) Parties; 4 (3) Professional Vendors; (4) Experts; (5) any private mediator or other ADR professional retained 5 or selected by the parties to assist in the resolution of the matter or appointed by the Court; (6) the 6 court and court personnel; and (7) actual or potential deposition witnesses to testify concerning this 7 litigation. These persons shall not disclose, discuss or reveal the contents or existence of the 8 Protected Materials or the actual Protected Materials itself to any other person or entity not 9 specifically described in this paragraph unless the Court so allows. 10 (c) No copies, extracts or summaries of any Protected Material shall be made except by 11 or on behalf of Counsel; and such copies, extracts or summaries shall also be designated and treated 12 as Protected Materials and shall not be delivered or exhibited to any persons except as provided in 13 this Protective Order. Copies of documents containing Protected Materials that are served on 14 Counsel for the parties shall be similarly identified and shall be maintained as “HIGHLY 15 CONFIDENTIAL,” as described herein. 16 (d) Counsel may allow access to Protected Material to their Experts, including 17 consultants, provided that any person who is to receive such material shall be provided with a copy 18 of this Protective Order and shall execute an “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” by 19 this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order. Experts shall be specifically 20 advised that the portion of their written work product, which contains or discloses the substance of 21 materials designated as “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” is subject to all the provisions of this 22 Protective Order. Counsel disclosing such material to Experts shall be responsible for obtaining the 23 executed “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” by this Stipulated Confidentiality 24 Agreement and Protective Order in advance of such disclosure and also shall retain the original 25 executed copy of the form. No Protected Materials may be disclosed to an Expert prior to execution 26 of an “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” by this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement 27 and Protective Order. 28 1 (e) During depositions, Counsel may question any witness about any Protected Material. 2 However, where the witness or deponent testifies about such Protected Material, the party who 3 designated the material “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” may instruct the Court Reporter to mark such 4 testimony as separate from the public record. Any “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” document so 5 referred to may be marked as an exhibit, but no such “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” document, or 6 any portion thereof, shall be attached to any publicly-available deposition or other transcript without 7 the written consent of Designating Party absent a Court Order. Portions of deposition transcripts 8 designated “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” shall be so marked and “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” 9 portions, including exhibits consisting of “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” documents, shall be bound 10 separately by the Court Reporter, kept under seal, and maintained separately by the Court Reporter 11 and the parties from the non-confidential portions of the transcript, including exhibits, except as 12 otherwise stipulated by the Parties or Ordered by the Court. 13 (f) Any Party may, within thirty (30) days after actual receipt of a deposition transcript 14 referencing “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” testimony and/or documents, designate portions of the 15 transcript, or exhibits to it, as being “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL.” “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” 16 deposition testimony or exhibits may be designated by stamping the exhibits “HIGHLY 17 CONFIDENTIAL” or by underlining the portions of the pages that are “HIGHLY 18 CONFIDENTIAL” and stamping such pages “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL,” and thereafter 19 notifying the other parties. If exhibits have already been identified or designated as “HIGHLY 20 CONFIDENTIAL,” the Designating Party may identify those exhibits in the notification to counsel 21 without reproducing them. Until expiration of the 30-day period, the entire deposition transcript, 22 and all exhibits to it, will be treated as confidential under the provisions of this Stipulated 23 Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties. If no 24 party timely designates testimony or exhibits from a deposition as being “HIGHLY 25 CONFIDENTIAL,” none of the deposition testimony or exhibits thereto will be treated as 26 confidential. If a timely “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” designation is made, the confidential 27 portions and exhibits shall be sealed separately from the remaining portions of the deposition, 28 subject to the right of any party to challenge such designation under paragraph 6. 1 (g) In the event that any Protected Material are attached to, or quoted or summarized in, 2 any pleadings, motion papers or other papers filed with this Court or any other court, the Protected 3 Material will be filed under seal in accordance with Local Rule 141.1, unless the Producing Party 4 agrees otherwise. 5 5.4 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 6 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 7 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 8 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated 9 in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 10 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 11 6.1 Timing of Challenges. A Party or Non-Party is not prohibited by this Agreement 12 from challenging a designation of confidentiality at any time consistent with the Court’s scheduling 13 order. 14 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process 15 by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each 16 challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must 17 recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph 18 of the Protective Order and Local Rule 141.1. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge 19 in good faith and must begin the process by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other 20 forms of communication are not sufficient) within 10 days of the date of service of notice. In 21 conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality 22 designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the 23 designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, to 24 explain the basis for the chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of 25 the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that 26 the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 27 28 1 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 2 intervention, the Designating Party shall proceed with the preparation and filing of a motion for a 3 protective order to retain confidentiality pursuant to Local Rule 141.1. 4 7. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 5 OTHER LITIGATION 6 If a Party is served with a subpoena, demand, legal process seeking discovery, or a court 7 order issued in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this 8 action as “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 9 (a) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena, demand, legal process 10 seeking discovery, or order to issue in the other litigation that documents will not be produced 11 because some or all of the material covered by the subpoena, legal process seeking discovery, or 12 order is subject to this Protective Order until the parties reach an agreement as to the confidentiality 13 of the subpoenaed Protected Materials. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated 14 Protective Order; 15 (b) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party, including a copy of the subpoena, 16 demand, legal process seeking discovery, or court order; and 17 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 18 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 19 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena, 20 demand, legal process seeking discovery, or court order shall not produce any information 21 designated in this action as “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from 22 which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 23 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that 24 court of its Protected Material – and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing 25 or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 26 8. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 27 Disclosure of material marked “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” outside of this litigation is 28 unauthorized and expressly prohibited. If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or 1 otherwise, it has disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 2 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing 3 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all 4 unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom 5 unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or 6 persons to execute an “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” by this Stipulated 7 Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order. 8 9. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 9 PROTECTED MATERIAL 10 Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. Proc. Rule 26, the parties hereby stipulate to the following treatment 11 of any privileged or work product materials inadvertently disclosed in this action. The parties agree 12 that disclosure of information protected by any privilege in this litigation shall not constitute a 13 waiver of any otherwise valid claim of privilege, and failure to assert a privilege in this litigation as 14 to one document or communication shall not be deemed to constitute a waiver of the privilege as to 15 any other document or communication allegedly so protected, even involving the same subject 16 matter. The parties agree that any inadvertent inclusion of any privileged or work product material 17 in a production in this action shall not result in the waiver of any associated privilege or protective 18 doctrine nor result in a subject matter waiver of any kind. If any such material is inadvertently 19 produced, the recipient of the document agrees that, upon request from the producing party, it will 20 promptly return all copies of the document in its possession, delete any versions of the documents 21 on any database it maintains, and make no use of the information contained in the document, 22 provided, however, that the party returning such document shall thereafter have the right to apply 23 to the Court for an order that such document was not protected (prior to the inadvertent disclosure) 24 from disclosure by any privilege or doctrine. The parties acknowledge and stipulate that diligent 25 steps have been taken to protect privileged/protected documents from disclosure, and that any 26 production of privileged material or material protected by the work product doctrine is deemed 27 inadvertent and does not amount to a waiver. 28 1 10. MISCELLANEOUS 2 10.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 3 its modification by the Court in the future. The Court may modify this Protective Order at any time 4 or consider any dispute which may arise hereunder upon motion of any of the parties. 5 10.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order 6 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 7 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 8 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by 9 this Protective Order. 10 10.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party 11 or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the 12 public record in this action any Protected Material. A party seeking to file Protected Materials must 13 request that such documents be filed under seal and must comply with all applicable rules to request 14 that the confidential materials be filed under seal. 15 11. FINAL DISPOSITION 16 After the Final Disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by the 17 Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Designating Party 18 or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, all Protected Material includes all copies, 19 abstracts, compilations, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 20 Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written 21 certification to the Designating Party by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 22 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the 23 Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 24 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel 25 are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 26 transcripts, legal memoranda, summaries, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 27 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials 28 1 contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material 2 remain subject to this Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order. 3 EXHIBIT 1 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE STIPULATED 5 CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 6 The undersigned hereby acknowledges that he or she has read the Stipulated Protective Order 7 entered into on behalf of the parties to Ruby Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, Case 8 No. 2:19-cv-001837-JAM-DB, pending in the United States District Court, Eastern District of 9 California; that he or she understands the provisions prohibiting the disclosure of confidential 10 information for any purpose or in any manner not connected with the prosecution or defense of this 11 action; and that he or she agrees to be bound by all provisions of that order. 12 13 Dated: __________________ _______________________________ Signature 14 _______________________________ 15 Printed Name 16 _______________________________ 17 _______________________________ 18 Address 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 3 Dated: February 4, 2021 Dated: February 4, 2021 4 Respectfully submitted, Respectfully submitted, 5 6 /s/Michelle L. Roberts /s/Stacey A. Campbell, Colo. Bar No. 38378 KANTOR & KANTOR, LLP CAMPBELL LITIGATION, P.C. 7 Michelle L. Roberts Stacey A. Campbell, Colo. Bar No. 38378 Zoya Y. Yarnykh (appearing pro hac vice) 8 Glenn R. Kantor HARDY ERICH BROWN & WILSON 9 Attorneys for Plaintiff Ruby Chacko Stephen W. Robertson, #228708 Alexander L. Nowinski, #304967 10 Attorneys for Defendant AT&T Umbrella 11 Benefit Plan No. 3 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT: 4 1. Requests to seal documents shall be made by motion before the same judge who will 5 decide the matter related to that request to seal. 6 2. The designation of documents (including transcripts of testimony) as confidential 7 pursuant to this order does not automatically entitle the parties to file such a document with the court 8 under seal. Parties are advised that any request to seal documents in this district is governed by 9 Local Rule 141. In brief, Local Rule 141 provides that documents may only be sealed by a written 10 order of the court after a specific request to seal has been made. L.R. 141(a). However, a mere 11 request to seal is not enough under the local rules. In particular, Local Rule 141(b) requires that 12 “[t]he ‘Request to Seal Documents’ shall set forth the statutory or other authority for sealing, the 13 requested duration, the identity, by name or category, of persons to be permitted access to the 14 document, and all relevant information.” L.R. 141(b). 15 3. A request to seal material must normally meet the high threshold of showing that 16 “compelling reasons” support secrecy; however, where the material is, at most, “tangentially 17 related” to the merits of a case, the request to seal may be granted on a showing of “good cause.” 18 Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096-1102 (9th Cir. 2016); Kamakana 19 v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-80 (9th Cir. 2006). 20 4. Nothing in this order shall limit the testimony of parties or non-parties, or the use of 21 certain documents, at any court hearing or trial – such determinations will only be made by the court 22 at the hearing or trial, or upon an appropriate motion. 23 5. With respect to motions regarding any disputes concerning this protective order which 24 the parties cannot informally resolve, the parties shall follow the procedures outlined in Local Rule 25 251. Absent a showing of good cause, the court will not hear discovery disputes on an ex parte basis 26 or on shortened time. 27 28 1 6. The parties may not modify the terms of this Protective Order without the court’s 2 approval. If the parties agree to a potential modification, they shall submit a stipulation and 3 proposed order for the court’s consideration. 4 7. Pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(f), the court will not retain jurisdiction over enforcement 5 of the terms of this Protective Order after the action is terminated. 6 8. Any provision in the parties’ stipulation that is in conflict with anything in this order is 7 hereby DISAPPROVED. 8 DATED: February 5, 2021 /s/ DEBORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28