Reaves v. National Life Ins. Co. ( 2023 )

1 || Daniel W. Maguire (SBN 120002) E-mail: dmaguire@bwslaw.com 2 || Kyle Anne Piasecki (SBN 311961) E-mail: Kpiaseck(@2wslaw com 3 || BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 444 South Flower Street, Suite 2400 4 || Los Angeles, CA 90071-2953 Tel: 213.236.0600 Fax: 213.236.2700 5 Attorneys for Defendant 6 || National Life Insurance Company 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 | KAREN REAVES, No. 2:22-cv-0219 TLN DB 12 Plaintiff, STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE 13 || V. ORDER 14 || NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and among the parties to this 19 || action, Plaintiff Karen Reaves, (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant National Life Insurance 29 || Company (“Defendant”) (collectively referred to herein as “the parties”) that 1 || certain documents, materials or information produced in discovery, shall be subject 97 || to the following Agreement with respect to confidentiality and privacy, subject to 3 || the approval of the Court. 94 || 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 1.1 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve 26 || production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special 27 || protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 2g || prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby E, WILLIAMS & CASE NO. 2:22-CV-00219 TLN PED LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -l1- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. 2 || The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 3 || disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public 4 || disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled 5 || to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further 6 || acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective 7 || Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Eastern 8 || District Local Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and reflects 9 || the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to 10 |) file material under seal. 11 1.2 Good Cause Statement. This action arises out of Plaintiff's claim for 12 || benefits under a disability policy issued by Defendant. The parties recognize that 13 || sensitive, confidential or proprietary information will be sought from each side in 14 || discovery. Disclosure or dissemination of these materials could result in substantial 15 || harm to the parties’ interests, as well as to third parties. 16 The parties do not wish unreasonably to impede or burden the discovery 17 || process but, at the same time, recognize an obligation to take reasonable steps to 18 || safeguard legitimate privacy concerns. The parties believe that issuance of a 19 || protective order, upon stipulated terms and conditions, will balance both parties’ 20 || rights and needs for reasonable discovery with their interests in keeping sensitive 21 || and/or proprietary information confidential. 22 || 2. DEFINITIONS 23 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 24 || designation of information or items under this Order. 25 2.2. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 26 || how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 27 || protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). This material may include, 28 || but is not limited to personnel records and/or proprietary information. LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -2- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 2.3. Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House 2 || Counsel (as well as their support staff). 3 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 4 || items that 1t produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 5 || “CONFIDENTIAL.” 6 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 7 || of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 8 || among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 9 || or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 10 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 11 || pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 12 || an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 13 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. 14 || House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 15 || counsel. 16 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 17 || other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 18 2.9 Qutside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 19 || party to this action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and 20 || have appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 21 || which has appeared on behalf of that party. 22 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, 23 || employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 24 |) support staffs). 25 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 26 || Discovery Material in this action. 27 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 28 || support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -3- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 2 || and their employees and subcontractors. 3 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 4 || designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 5 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 6 || Material from a Producing Party. 7 || 3. SCOPE 8 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 9 || Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 10 || extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 11 || compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 12 || presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 13 || 4. DURATION 14 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 15 || imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees 16 || otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be 17 || deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this action, with 18 || or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and 19 || exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, 20 || including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time 21 || pursuant to applicable law. 22 || 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 23 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 24 || Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 25 || this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 26 || qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 27 || protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 28 || communications that qualify — so that other portions of the material, documents, LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -4- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 2 || unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 3 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 4 || that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 5 || purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process or 6 || to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the 7 || Designating Party to sanctions. 8 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 9 || designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 10 || promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 11 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 12 || this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 13 || stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 14 || under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 15 || produced. 16 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 17 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 18 || documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 19 || proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each 20 || page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on 21 || a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 22 || protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 23 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available 24 || for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party 25 || has indicated which material it would like copied and produced. During the 26 |) inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 27 || inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 28 || identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -5- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 2 || Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must 3 || affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected Material. 4 || If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 5 || Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 6 || appropriate markings in the margins). 7 (b) any party may, within thirty (30) days after receiving a 8 || deposition transcript, designate portions of the transcript, or exhibits to it, as being 9 || “Confidential.” Confidential deposition testimony or exhibits may be designated by 10 || stamping the exhibits “Confidential,” or by underlining the portions of the pages 11 || that are confidential and stamping such pages “Confidential.” Until expiration of 12 || the 30-day period, the entire deposition transcript, and all exhibits to it, will be 13 || treated as confidential under the provisions of this Order. If no party timely 14 || designates testimony or exhibits from a deposition as being “Confidential,” none of 15 || the deposition testimony or exhibits will be treated as confidential. If a timely 16 || “confidential” designation is made, the confidential portions and exhibits shall be 17 || sealed separately from the remaining portions of the deposition, subject to the right 18 || of any party to challenge such designation under paragraph 6 below. 19 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary 20 || and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place 21 || on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is 22 || stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the 23 || information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent 24 || practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 25 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 26 || failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 27 || the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 28 || material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -6- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 2 || provisions of this Order. 3 || 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 4 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 5 | designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a 6 || Designating Party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, 7 || substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant disruption or 8 || delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality 9 || designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original 10 || designation is disclosed. 11 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 12 || resolution process by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging 13 |) and describing the basis for each challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a 14 || challenge has been made, the written notice must recite that the challenge to 15 || confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of the 16 || Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith 17 || and must begin the process by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other 18 || forms of communication are not sufficient) within 14 days of the date of service of 19 || notice. In conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that 20 || the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party 21 || an opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, 22 || and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen 23 || designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge 24 || process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes 25 || that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process 26 || in a timely manner. 27 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without 28 || court intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -7- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || confidentiality within 21 days of the initial notice of challenge or within 14 days of 2 || the parties agreeing that the meet and confer process will not resolve their dispute, 3 || whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be accompanied by a competent 4 || declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer 5 || requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party 6 || to make such a motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 7 || days, if applicable) shall automatically waive the confidentiality designation for 8 || each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may file a motion 9 || challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is good cause for doing 10 || so, including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or any 11 || portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must be 12 || accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied 13 || with the meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 14 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 15 || Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 16 || (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 17 || expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 18 || the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain confidentiality as 19 || described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the 20 || level of protection to which it 1s entitled under the Producing Party’s designation 21 || until the court rules on the challenge. 22 || 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 23 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 24 || disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 25 || case only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such 26 || Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 27 || conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been terminated, a 28 LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -8- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 2 || DISPOSITION). 3 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 4 || location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 5 || authorized under this Order. 6 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 7 || otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 8 || Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 9 || “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 10 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, 11 || as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 12 || necessary to disclose the information for this litigation and who have signed the 13 || “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit 14) A; 15 (b) _ the officers, directors, and employees (including House 16 || Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this 17 || litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 18 || Bound” (Exhibit A); 19 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to 20 || whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 21 || “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 22 (d) the court and its personnel; 23 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial 24 || consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is 25 || reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 26 || and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 27 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom 28 || disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -9- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating 2 || Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits 3 || to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court 4 || reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this 5 || Stipulated Protective Order; or 6 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information 7 || or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 8 | 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 9 IN OTHER LITIGATION 10 Ifa Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 11 || that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as 12 | “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 13 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such 14 || notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 15 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 16 |) order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 17 || subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 18 || a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 19 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 20 || pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 21 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 22 || the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 23 || action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 24 |) subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 25 || permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 26 || protection in that court of its confidential material — and nothing in these provisions 27 || should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action 28 || to disobey a lawful directive from another court. LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 - 10- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced 4 || by a Non-Party in this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such 5 || information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation 1s protected 6 || by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions 7 || should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 8 (b) Inthe event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery 9 |) request, to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the 10 || Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 11 || confidential information, then the Party shall: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the 13 || Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a 14 || confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 15 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the 16 || Stipulated Protective Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a 17 || reasonably specific description of the information requested; and 18 (3) make the information requested available for inspection 19 || by the Non-Party. 20 (c) Ifthe Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from 21 |) this court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the 22 || Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive 23 || to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the 24 || Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that 25 || 1s subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 26 || determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall 27 || bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected 28 || Material. 1] 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 || Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 4 || Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 5 || writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best 6 || efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the 7 || person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of 8 || this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment 9 || and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 | 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 1] PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 13 || inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 14 || protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal 15 || Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 16 || whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 17 || production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 18 || 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure 19 || of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 20 || product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 21 || protective order submitted to the court. 22 | 12. MISCELLANEOUS 23 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 24 || person to seek its modification by the court in the future. 25 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 26 || Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 27 || disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in 28 || this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on 1 || any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 2 || Order. 3 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the 4 || Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested 5 || persons, a Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected 6 || Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply 7 || with Local Rule 141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a 8 || court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. 9 || Pursuant to Local Rule 141, a sealing order will issue only upon a request 10 || establishing that the Protected Material at issue 1s privileged, protectable as a trade 11 || secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. If a Receiving Party’s 12 |) request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Local Rule 141 is denied 13 || by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record 14 || unless otherwise instructed by the Court. 15 || 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 16 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in 17 || paragraph 4, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the 18 || Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 19 || Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other 20 || format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the 21 || Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a 22 || written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to 23 || the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 24 || appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) 25 || affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 26 || compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 27 || Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an 28 || archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -13- STIPULATED CON FIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 2 || reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if 3 || such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 4 || constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 5 || Section 4 (DURATION). 6 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 7 DATED: June 8, 2023 DANIEL S. GLASS, ESQ. 9 By: s/ Daniel S. Glass [as authorized on June &, 2023] 10 DANIEL S. GLASS Attorney for Plaintiff Karen Reaves 12 13 |DATED: June 9, 2023 BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 14 By: s/ Daniel W. Maguire 15 DANIEL W. MAGUIRE KYLE ANNE PIASECKI 16 Attorneys for Defendant 7 National Life Insurance Company 18 ORDER 19 Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED. > IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT: 59 1. Requests to seal documents shall be made by motion before the same judge who will 73 decide the matter related to that request to seal. 2. The designation of documents (including transcripts of testimony) as confidential 95 pursuant to this order does not automatically entitle the parties to file such a document with the court under seal. Parties are advised that any request to seal documents in this district is governed by Local Rule 141. In brief, Local Rule 141 provides that documents may only be sealed by a written order of the court after a specific request to seal has been made. L.R. 141(a). However, a E, WILLIAMS & CASE NO. 2:22-CV-00219 TLN PED LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -14- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 1 || mere request to seal is not enough under the local rules. In particular, Local Rule 141(b) requires 2 || that “[t]he ‘Request to Seal Documents’ shall set forth the statutory or other authority for sealing, 3 || the requested duration, the identity, by name or category, of persons to be permitted access to the 4 || document, and all relevant information.” L.R. 141(b). 5 3. A request to seal material must normally meet the high threshold of showing that 6 || “compelling reasons” support secrecy; however, where the material is, at most, “tangentially 7 || related” to the merits of a case, the request to seal may be granted on a showing of “good cause.” 8 || Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096-1102 (9th Cir. 2016); Kamakana 9 || v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178-80 (9th Cir. 2006). 10 4. Nothing in this order shall limit the testimony of parties or non-parties, or the use of 11 || certain documents, at any court hearing or trial — such determinations will only be made by the 12 || court at the hearing or trial, or upon an appropriate motion. 13 5. With respect to motions regarding any disputes concerning this protective order which 14 || the parties cannot informally resolve, the parties shall follow the procedures outlined in Local Rule 15 |} 251. Absent a showing of good cause, the court will not hear discovery disputes on an ex parte 16 || basis or on shortened time. 17 6. The parties may not modify the terms of this Protective Order without the court’s 18 || approval. If the parties agree to a potential modification, they shall submit a stipulation and 19 || proposed order for the court’s consideration. 20 7. Pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(f), the court will not retain jurisdiction over enforcement 21 || of the terms of this Protective Order after the action is terminated. 22 8. Any provision in the parties’ stipulation that is in conflict with anything in this order is 23 || hereby DISAPPROVED. 94 || DATED: June 12, 2023 /s| DEBORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 25 26 27 28 LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 -15- STIPULATED CON FIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 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 5 || that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 6 || was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California 7 || on [date] in the case of Karen Reaves v. National Life Insurance 8 || Company Case No. 2:22-cv-00219-TLN (DB). I agree to comply with and to be 9 || bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and 10 || acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 11 |) punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in 12 || any manner any information or item that 1s subject to this Stipulated Protective 13 || Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 14 || Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 15 || Court for the Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of 16 || this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 17 || termination of this action. 18 I hereby appoint [print or type full name] of 19 [print or type full address and 20 || telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 21 || this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 22 || Order. 23 || Date: 24 || City and State where sworn and signed: 25 26 || Printed name: 27 || Signature: 28 LLP LA #4859-7189-9670 v1 - 16- STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT