Rippy v. County of Sacramento ( 2022 )

|iPoRTER | SCOTT 2 |] APROFESSIONAL CORPORATION Carl L. Fessenden, SBN 161494 3 |] William E. Camy, SBN 291397 Megan N. Boelter, SBN 340235 4 350 University Avenue, Suite 200 5 Sacramento, California 95825 TEL: 916.929.1481 6 || FAX: 916.927.3706 cfessenden@porterscott.com 7 || wcamy@porterscott.com mboelter@porterscott.com 8 Attorneys for Defendant 9 || COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO 10 Exempt from filing fee pursuant to Government Code section 6103 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 13 14 DANIEL RIPPY, Case No.: 2:22-ev-01511-TLN-DMC 1S Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 16 VS. 17 || COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO and DOES 1 TO Complaint Filed: 8/26/22 ig 19 Defendants. 20 ee 21 22 23 Plaintiff DANIEL RIPPY (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO 24 || (“Defendant”), by and through their respective counsels, hereby stipulate and in good faith believe that 25 || documents potentially within the scope of discovery for the instant matter, including but not limited to the 26 || documents identified below that have been or will be requested by Plaintiff and Defendant, are subject to 27 || protection pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). The terms of this protective order shall apply to the items 28 (02849142. DOCX} STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER; [PROPOSED ORDER] 1 listed below and any future production of confidential documents that Defendant—or Plaintiff—may 2 designate in good faith to be confidential. 3 STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 4 Plaintiff takes the position that his medical records are confidential and subject to protection 5 pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Defendant takes the position that certain personnel records, including 6 confidential information in investigation reports, are confidential and subject to protection pursuant to 7 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Therefore, the parties jointly request a protective order be entered in this case to 8 protect the above referenced confidential records. 9 A. DEFINITIONS 10 The following definitions shall apply to this Protective Order: 11 1. The “Action” shall mean and refer to the above-captioned matter and to all actions now or later 12 consolidated with the Action, and any appeal from the Action and from any other action 13 consolidated at any time under the above-captioned matter, through final judgment. 14 2. “Documents” or “Confidential Documents” shall mean the Documents that Defendants or 15 Plaintiffs designate as “Confidential” in the manner set forth in this Protective Order. 16 3. “Confidential” shall mean information designated “Confidential” pursuant to this Protective 17 Order. Information designated “Confidential” shall be information that is determined in good 18 faith by the attorneys representing the Designating Party to be subject to protection pursuant 19 to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Confidential Documents, material, and/or information shall be used 20 solely for purposes of litigation. Confidential Information shall not be used by the non- 21 Designating Party for any business or other purpose, unless agreed to in writing by all Parties 22 to this action or as authorized by further order of the Court. 23 4. “Defendant” shall mean COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO. 24 5. "Discovery Material" shall refer to all items or information that are produced or generated in 25 disclosures or responses to discovery in this Action, regardless of the medium or way it was 26 stored, generated, or maintained. 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 6. "Document" shall have the same meaning as provided in Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil 2 Procedure, and shall include, without limitation, all original, written, recorded, electronic, 3 visual, audio or graphic materials, including all photographic, video or audio recordings, 4 drawings or other physical renderings and all copies, duplicates or abstracts thereof including, 5 but not limited to, notes on documents including information contained therein or derived 6 therefrom. 7 7. "Information" shall include Documents as described above as well as recordings (including 8 associated metadata) whether on paper, film or other media, as discrete files stored 9 electronically, optically, or magnetically, or as a record within a database, archive, or container 10 file, including emails, messages, word processed documents, digital presentations, 11 spreadsheets, and database content and the content contained therein. 12 8. “Plaintiff” shall mean DANIEL RIPPY. 13 9. “Parties” shall mean Plaintiff and Defendant, identified above. 14 10. Pursuant to this Order, any Document and/or Information and/or Discovery Material contained 15 therein, maintained or produced by the County of Sacramento relating to the personnel records, 16 including confidential information in investigation reports, shall be deemed "Confidential." 17 11. Pursuant to this Order, any Document and/or Information and/or Discovery Material contained 18 therein, maintained or produced by Plaintiff relating to Plaintiff’s medical records shall be 19 deemed “Confidential.” 20 B. TERMS OF THE PROTECTIVE ORDER 21 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by, among and between the parties through their counsel of record, 22 that the following terms apply to documents designated as “Confidential” as described above, by the 23 Defendant or Plaintiff and produced by subpoena or otherwise, subject to the following Protective Order: 24 1. The Confidential Documents shall be used solely in connection with the civil case Daniel 25 Rippy v. County of Sacramento, No. 2:22-cv-01511-TLN-DMC (E.D. Cal.) and in the 26 preparation and trial of the case. The Parties do not waive any objections to the 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 admissibility of the documents or portions thereof in future proceedings in this case, 2 including trial. 3 2. Plaintiff’s medical records do not need to be affixed with a label of “Confidential.” All 4 other records subject to this protective order shall be designated as confidential by affixing 5 a mark labelling them “Confidential” by the designating party. 6 3. The Confidential Documents may only be disclosed to the following persons: 7 (a) Counsel for Plaintiff, including partners and associate attorneys in their offices, as 8 counsel for Plaintiffs in this case; 9 (b) Counsel for Defendant, including partners and associate attorneys in their offices, 10 as counsel for Defendants in this case; 11 (c) Paralegal, clerical, and secretarial personnel regularly employed by counsel 12 referred to in subparts (a) and (b), including stenographic deposition reporters or 13 videographers retained in connection with this action; 14 (d) Court personnel, including stenographic reporters or videographers engaged in 15 proceedings as are necessarily incidental to the preparation for the trial in the civil 16 action; 17 (e) Any expert, consultant, or investigator retained in connection with this action, 18 however, such persons must be advised of and abide by this protective order; 19 (f) The finder of fact at the time of trial, subject to the court’s rulings on in limine 20 motions and objections of counsel; 21 (g) Witnesses during their depositions in this action. If confidential documents are used 22 in the deposition, the documents must be identified as “Confidential” and the 23 portion of the deposition in which the documents are described should also be 24 considered confidential; and 25 (h) The parties to this action and any representatives acting on their behalf for this 26 action. 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 4. Before any Confidential Documents may be disclosed to persons described in 2 Subsections (a)-(h) in paragraph 3 above, each person to whom such Confidential 3 Documents are disclosed, except for Court officials and employees, shall be provided with 4 a copy of this Protective Order and shall sign a written certification in the form of the 5 undertaking attached hereto and incorporated herein. 6 5. No notes, lists, memoranda, index, electronic images, databases or compilation prepared 7 based wholly or in part upon examination of Confidential Documents shall be disseminated 8 to anyone not authorized to have access to Confidential Documents. 9 6. If the Confidential Documents are filed with any motion or other pleading, a party may 10 seek permission from the Court to file the Confidential Documents under seal according to 11 Local Rule 141. If permission is granted, the Confidential Documents will be filed and 12 served in accordance with Local Rule 141. 13 7. The designation of the Confidential Documents as “Confidential” and the subsequent 14 production thereof is without prejudice to the right of any party to oppose the admissibility 15 of the Confidential Documents or information contained therein. 16 8. Any party or non-party may challenge a designation of confidentiality at any time. A party 17 or non-party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality designation by electing 18 not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation is disclosed. The 19 Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by providing written notice 20 of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each challenge. The parties 21 shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process by 22 conferring directly (in voice-to-voice dialogue; other forms of communication are not 23 sufficient) within seven (7) days of the date of receiving notice of the challenge. In 24 conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the 25 confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an 26 opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no 27 change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has 2 engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is 3 unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. If the Parties 4 cannot resolve a challenge without Court intervention, the Designating Party may file and 5 serve a motion for protective order pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) and E.D. Cal. L.R. 251 6 within twenty-one (21) days of the initial notice of challenge. Failure by the Designating 7 Party to make such a motion within twenty-one (21) days shall automatically waive the 8 “Confidential” designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging 9 Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is 10 good cause for doing so. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall 11 be on the Designating Party. Unless the Designating Party has waived the confidentiality 12 designation by failing to file a motion to retain confidentiality as described above, all 13 parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it 14 is entitled under the Designating Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 15 9. Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph 3, the Confidential Documents and 16 information contained therein may not be delivered, exhibited or otherwise disclosed to 17 any reporter, writer or employee of any trade publication, newspaper, magazine or other 18 media organization, including but not limited to radio and television media, provided that 19 the Challenging Party has not obtained, by challenge or otherwise, the removal of the 20 confidentiality designation from the Confidential Documents. 21 10. Should the Confidential Documents or any information contained therein be disclosed, 22 through inadvertence or otherwise, to any person not authorized to receive it under this 23 Protective Order, the disclosing person(s) shall promptly (a) inform counsel of the 24 recipient(s) and the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure to the relevant producing 25 person(s) and (b) use best efforts to bind the recipient(s) to the terms of this Protective 26 Order. 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 11. The Confidential Documents shall not lose its confidential status because it was 2 inadvertently or unintentionally disclosed to a person not authorized to receive it under this 3 Protective Order. 4 12. After the conclusion of this litigation, the Confidential Documents will remain confidential, 5 unless the Challenging Party has obtained removal of the confidentiality designations. 6 “Conclusion” of this litigation means a termination of the case following a trial, settlement, 7 or dismissal of the Action with prejudice for any other reason. 8 13. This Stipulated Protective Order shall remain in full force and effect and shall continue to 9 be binding on all parties and affected persons until this litigation terminates, subject to any 10 subsequent modifications of this Stipulated Protective Order for good cause shown by this 11 Court or any Court having jurisdiction over an appeal of this action. Upon termination of 12 this litigation, the parties agree the Stipulated Protective Order shall continue in force as a 13 private agreement between the parties, unless the Challenging Party has obtained removal 14 of the confidentiality designations from certain documents. 15 14. During the pendency of this lawsuit, the Court shall (a) make such amendments, 16 modifications and additions to this Protective Order as it may deem appropriate upon good 17 cause shown; and (b) adjudicate any dispute arising under it. 18 19 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 20 21 Dated: December 7, 2022 PORTER SCOTT A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 22 23 By: /s/ Megan N. Boelter 24 Carl L. Fessenden William E. Camy 25 Megan N. Boelter 26 Attorneys for Defendant 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 Dated: December 7, 2022 LAW OFFICE OF ROBERT CHALFANT 2 3 /s/ Robert Chalfant 4 By: Robert Chalfant 5 Attorney for Plaintiff 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} CERTIFICATION RE 1 AGREEMENT CONCERNING DOCUMENTS COVERED BY PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 3 I hereby certify my understanding that Confidential Documents are being provided to me pursuant 4 to the terms and restrictions of the Protective Order dated ____________ (hereinafter “Order”), in RIPPY 5 v. COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, Case No. 2:22-cv-01511-TLN-DMC. 6 I have been given a copy of that Order and read it. 7 I agree to be bound by the Order. I will not reveal Confidential Documents to anyone, except as 8 allowed by the Order. I will maintain all such Confidential Documents – including copies, notes, or other 9 transcriptions made therefrom – in a secure matter to prevent unauthorized access to it. Not later than 10 thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this action, I shall either (a) return such documents to counsel for 11 the party or non-party who provided such information, or at my election, (b) destroy such documents and 12 certify in writing that the documents have been destroyed. 13 I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing 14 the Order. 15 I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct and that this certificate is 16 executed this _____ day of ___________, at __________________, _____________. 17 18 By: ________________________________ 19 Address: ___________________________ 20 ___________________________ 21 ___________________________ Phone: ___________________________ 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 {02849142.DOCX} 1 ORDER Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties: 3 1. The protective order is entered; 4 2. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States District Court, 5 Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be filed under seal will require a written 6 request which complies with Local Rule 141; and 7 3. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to show good cause 8 for documents attached to a non-dispositive motion or compelling reasons for documents attached 9 to a dispositive motion. Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 2009). 10 11 IS SO ORDERED. 12 13 14 || Dated: December 9, 2022 Ss..c0_, 15 DENNIS M. COTA 16 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 /02849142.DOCX} 10 STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER; [PROPOSED ORDER]