Miles Market v. United States ( 2021 )

1 ANDREW Z. TAPP (FBN 68002) Pro Hac Vice 2 andrew@metropolitan.legal 3 Metropolitan Law Group, PLLC 1971 W. Lumsden Road, #326 4 Brandon, Florida 33511-8820 5 Telephone: (813) 228-0658 6 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 MILES MARKET, a California Sole 11 Proprietorship, ABDULHAYOOM CASE NO. 2:21-cv-00701-WBS-KJN 12 MOHAMEDMEERASAHIB, an Individual, and PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 UMMAL FARIDHA MOHAMED 14 MEERASAHIB, an Individual, Plaintiffs, 15 v. 16 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 17 Defendant. 18 19 The parties have filed a Stipulation for Protective Order. The Court hereby 20 GRANTS the parties Stipulation. 21 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this Protective Order shall be entered as 22 follows: 23 1. The parties may designate information produced or obtained in discovery as 24 “Confidential Information,” or “Attorney’s Eyes Only” as follows: 25 a. Confidential Information: Any production of information produced by 26 any party, or any third party (such as a State Agency) to this litigation, 27 shall have the right to be designated as “Confidential Information” if 28 1 any portion of that document, testimony, discovery response, or thing 2 (“Material”): (a) contains trade secrets, competitively sensitive 3 financial, sales or other confidential business information; (b) contains 4 private or confidential personal information; (c) contains information 5 received in confidence from third-parties; or (d) which the producing 6 party otherwise believes in good faith should be entitled to protection 7 under state or federal law. Any party to this litigation or third party 8 covered by this Protective Order who produces or discloses any 9 Confidential Information (including without limitation any information, 10 document, thing, interrogatory answer, admission, pleading or 11 testimony) shall mark the Material with the following or similar legend: 12 “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL-SUBJECT TO ORDER OF 13 PROTECTION.” 14 b. Attorney’s Eyes Only: Any party to this litigation and any third-party 15 may designate Materials as “Attorney’s Eyes Only” and subject to this 16 Order, if such Material contains highly sensitive business, personal, 17 procedural or investigatory information, the disclosure of which is 18 highly likely to cause significant harm to an individual, business, the 19 Department’s ability to enforce its regulations, or the Plaintiffs’ ability 20 to conduct business. 21 “Attorney’s Eyes Only” information shall be disclosed to the 22 parties’ respective Counsel of Record (which shall include the 23 Plaintiffs’ “Trial Counsel” Andrew Z. Tapp, the Defendant’s Assistant 24 United States Attorney Trial Counsel, and the Defendant’s Agency 25 Counsel), but shall not be disclosed to any other person, entity or 26 agency, including the parties hereto (excluding Court personnel and the 27 attorneys’ necessary administrative staffs), without prior written 28 1 consent from the producing party, or leave of Court sought prior to such 2 disclosure. 3 The parties shall take all reasonable precautions to protect 4 Attorney’s Eyes Only information from unintentional disclosure to 5 persons, entities or agencies not identified herein. Any party to this 6 litigation or third-party covered by the protective order who produces or 7 discloses any Attorney’s Eyes Only Material (including without 8 limitation any information, document, thing, interrogatory answer, 9 admission, pleading, or testimony) shall mark that Material with the 10 following or similar legend: “ATTORNEY’S EYES ONLY” or 11 “ATTORNEY’S EYES ONLY SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE 12 ORDER.” c. Designation after Production: If material obtained through discovery did 13 not originate from the party seeking to affix the “Confidential 14 Information” or “Attorney’s Eyes Only” label, or was not produced in 15 this action by that party, the “Confidential Information” or “Attorney’s 16 Eyes Only” designation will occur upon written notice of that 17 designation provided to all counsel of record within thirty (30) days after 18 receipt of the information or document containing the information to be 19 protected. Subject to the procedures set forth herein, and upon written 20 notice, the document will be treated as “Confidential Information” or 21 “Attorney’s Eyes Only Information” within the meaning of this 22 Protective Order. 23 24 2. The parties agree to the pre-categorization of protected information for 25 production as set out below. These categorizations and the identification of 26 potential production shall not be read to waive any objections to production 27 the parties may otherwise have. Pre-categorized information includes: 28 1 a. SNAP Household Information: All information received from the State 2 of California pertaining to SNAP households identified in the Charge 3 Letter, including but not limited to the household’s demographic 4 information, household size, names of authorized users in the 5 household, transaction history, and any other information which may be 6 relevant will be treated as “Confidential Information.” 7 b. Food and Nutrition Services & ALERT Operational Information: With 8 respect to information the United States may produce to Plaintiffs’ 9 counsel related to SNAP or the Defendant’s policies and procedures, 10 including but not limited to policy memorandums, pertinent portions of 11 the Standard Operating Procedures, and other program details, 12 guidelines, thresholds or information shall be deemed to be produced 13 under cover of “Attorney’s Eyes Only.” The Defendant shall, however, 14 identify any portions of such production which does not include 15 “Attorney’s Eyes Only” information. 16 c. Comparison Store Information: Information for comparison stores, 17 including sales data, inventory records, operational details and other 18 identifying information shall be deemed “Confidential Information.” 19 d. Plaintiff’s Business, Financial, and Tax Records: The Plaintiffs’ sales 20 data, inventory records, business operations, know-how, vendor and 21 supplier lists, profit margins, financial and tax records shall be deemed 22 “Confidential Information.” 23 4. Depositions and Transcripts: Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure 24 of Confidential Information or Attorney’s Eyes Only Information, the 25 deposition or portions thereof shall be designated as confidential by counsel 26 and shall be subject to the provisions of this Protective Order. This designation 27 shall be made on the record during the deposition whenever possible, but a 28 party may designate portions of depositions as containing Confidential 1 Information or Attorney’s Eyes Only Information after transcription, provided 2 written notice of the designation is promptly given to all counsel of record 3 within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the completion of 4 the transcript. 5 5. Objections: A party may object to the designation of Confidential Information 6 or Attorney’s Eyes Only Information by giving written notice to the party 7 designating the disputed information as protected information. The written 8 notice shall specifically identify the information to which the objection is 9 made. If the parties cannot resolve the objection, it shall be the obligation of 10 the party objecting to the designation as Confidential Information or 11 Attorney’s Eyes Only Information to file an appropriate motion requesting that 12 the Court determine whether the disputed information should be subject to the 13 terms of this Protective Order. Such motion must be filed within thirty (30) 14 days after submitting written objection to the protective designation. If such a 15 motion is timely filed, the disputed information shall be treated as designated 16 under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on the motion. In 17 connection with a motion filed under this provision, the party designating the 18 information as Confidential Information shall bear the burden of establishing 19 that good cause exists for the designated information to be treated as 20 Confidential Information. 21 6. Subsequent Use of Protected Information: Plaintiffs and their attorneys shall 22 not disclose any Confidential Information that they may obtain in discovery or 23 through other means to any person unless the disclosure is reasonably and in 24 good faith calculated to aid in the claims or defenses of this court action. 25 Plaintiffs and their attorneys shall ensure that any person (except court 26 personnel) to whom disclosure may be made pursuant to this Order shall, prior 27 to such disclosure, have read, understood, and acknowledged in writing an 28 agreement to be bound by this Order. 1 a. The Administrative Record, any Household or Comparison Store 2 Information disclosed to Plaintiffs, and Plaintiffs financial, accounting, 3 and tax records shall be used only to pursue or defend any claims in this 4 court action. This Protective Order prohibits disclosure of the 5 Administrative Record, Household or Comparison Store Information, 6 Plaintiffs’ financial, accounting, and tax records, and other 7 “Confidential Information” and “Attorney’s Eyes Only” information 8 outside of this litigation. 9 b. Neither “Confidential Information” nor “Attorney’s Eyes Information” 10 may be filed with the court unless (1) the parties’ agree on appropriate 11 redactions prior to filing, or (2) the pleading is filed with an application 12 to file under seal. The parties agree that the procedures for use of 13 designated protected information in any motion shall be determined by 14 the parties, and with the approval of the Court, if necessary, for the use 15 of such information at trial. The parties shall consider redacting 16 confidential documents to remove individual identifiers, code the 17 documents to substitute a numerical or other designation for a person’s 18 name or other identifying information, or introduce summary evidence 19 where practicable which may be more easily redacted. 20 7. Non-waiver of Discovery Objections: Nothing in this Protective Order 21 constitutes any decision by the Court concerning discovery disputes, or the 22 admission into evidence of any specific document, or liability for payment of 23 any costs of production or reproduction of documents, nor does this Protective 24 Order constitute a waiver by any party of any right to object to discovery or 25 admission into evidence of any document or record subject to this Order on 26 other grounds. 27 a. A party or non-party subject to the protective order may only designate 28 documents or other information in this action as confidential if the 1 designating party or non-party has an articulable, good faith basis to 2 believe that each document or other information designated as 3 confidential qualifies for protection under Federal Rule of Civil 4 Procedure 26(c). 5 8. Modification of this Order: The Court may modify the terms and conditions 6 of the Order for good cause, or in the interest of justice, or on its own order at 7 any time in these proceedings. Without a separate court order, the Protective 8 Order does not change, amend, or circumvent any court rule or local rule. 9 9. Final Disposition: Within 60 days after termination of this action, including 10 any appeals, Plaintiffs and their attorneys shall destroy all protected material, 11 including all copies, extracts and summaries thereof. Notwithstanding this 12 provision, Plaintiffs attorneys’ are entitled to retain one archival copy of all 13 documents filed with the court, deposition and hearing transcripts, 14 correspondence, trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 15 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain protected 16 material. 17 18 ORDER 19 The court has reviewed the parties’ stipulated protective order. (See ECF 20 No. 12). The stipulation lists categories of information sought to be protected, and 21 otherwise comports with the relevant authorities and the court’s applicable local 22 rule. See L.R. 141.1(c);1 see also Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors 23 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir. 2002) (requiring a showing of good cause for 24 1 The Court’s Local Rules instruct the parties, when requesting a protective order, to include in their submission: 25 (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 the information (e.g., 26 customer list, formula for soda, diary of a troubled child); (2) A showing of particularized need for protection as to each category of information proposed 27 to be covered by the order; and (3) A showing as to why the need for protection should be addressed by a court order, as opposed 28 to a private agreement between or among the parties. 1 || protective orders). The court APPROVES the protective order subject to the 2 | following clarification. The Local Rules state that once an action is closed, “unless 3 | otherwise ordered, the court will not retain jurisdiction over enforcement of the 4 | terms of any protective order filed in that action.” L.R. 141.1(f). Courts in the 5 | district generally do not agree to retain jurisdiction for disputes concerning 6 | protective orders after closure of the case. See, e.g., MD Helicopters, Inc. v. 7 | Aerometals, Inc., 2017 WL 495778 (E.D. Cal., Feb. 03, 2017). Thus, the court will 8 | not retain jurisdiction over this protective order once the case is closed. 9 | Dated: December 1, 2021 Foci) Aharon 11 KENDALL J. NE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 mark.701 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28