Luna v. Lowe's ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 RAMON LUNA Case No.: 2:21-cv-01822-JAM-KJN 11 [Solano County Superior Court Case No.: Plaintiff, FCS056547] 12 v. [Assigned to John A. Mendez, District 13 Judge] LOWE’S; LOWE’S COMPANIES, 14 INC., dba LOWE’S; LOWE’S HOME PROTECTIVE ORDER CENTERS, LLC; and DOES 1 to 100, 15 inclusive, Complaint Filed: May 19, 2021 16 Defendants. 17 18 The Court having reviewed Defendants’ Motion for the Entry of a Protective 19 Order, and good cause appearing, hereby enters the following protective order: 20 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 21 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production 22 of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from 23 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation 24 may be warranted. Accordingly, defendants hereby petition the court to enter the 25 following Protective Order. Defendants acknowledge that this Order does not confer 26 blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection 27 it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 28 1 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the 2 applicable legal principles. 3 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 4 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 26(c)(1) states in pertinent part, that the 5 Court, upon a showing of good cause may “issue an order to protect a party from 6 annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 7 26(c)(1). In the instant matter, Defendant Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC’s Confidential 8 Documents contain proprietary and confidential trade secret information relating to 9 Defendant Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC’s business practices and its safety protocol. 10 Defendant Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC. (“Defendant” or “Lowe’s”) derives 11 independent economic value from maintaining the confidentiality of the policies and 12 procedures set forth in these Confidential Documents. 13 Defendant is a retailer in the home improvement industry and has conducted 14 business in California since 1998. The home improvement retail industry is very 15 competitive. As a result of years of investing time and money in research and 16 investigation, Defendant developed the policies contained in the Confidential 17 Documents for the purposes of maintaining the security and accessibility of its 18 merchandise, providing quality customer service, and ensuring the safety of its 19 employees and customers. These policies and procedures, as memorialized in the 20 Confidential Documents, were created and generated by Lowe’s for Lowe’s, and are 21 used for the purposes of maintaining safety at its stores and creating efficient and 22 organized work environments for its employees. As a result, Defendant is able to 23 minimize the waste of any resources, which is a key factor in generating profitability 24 for its business. 25 Defendant derives economic value from maintaining the secrecy of its 26 Confidential Documents. If disclosed to the public, the trade secret information 27 contained in Defendant’s Confidential Documents would reveal Defendant’s internal 28 operations and could potentially be used by competitors as a means to compete for its 1 customers, interfere with its business plans and thereby gain unfair business 2 advantages. If Defendant’s safety protocol were revealed to the general public, it 3 would hinder Defendant’s ability to effectively resolve and minimize liability claims, 4 and its goal of protecting its customers and employees from theft and other crimes. 5 Unrestricted or unprotected disclosure of such information would result in prejudice 6 or harm to Defendant by revealing Lowe’s competitive confidential information, 7 which has been developed at the expense of Lowe’s and which represents valuable 8 tangible and intangible assets. Accordingly, defendants respectfully submit that there 9 is good cause for the entry of this Protective Order. 10 2. DEFINITIONS 11 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 12 of information or items under this Order. 13 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 14 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection 15 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). 16 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House 17 Counsel (as well as their support staff). 18 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 19 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 20 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 22 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 23 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 24 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 25 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 26 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an 27 expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 28 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. 1 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 2 counsel. 3 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 4 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 5 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 6 to this action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have 7 appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which 8 has appeared on behalf of that party. 9 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, 10 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 11 support staffs). 12 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 13 Discovery Material in this action. 14 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 15 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 16 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and 17 their employees and subcontractors. 18 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 19 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 20 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 21 from a Producing Party. 22 3. SCOPE 23 The protections conferred by this Order cover not only Protected Material (as 24 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected 25 Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; 26 and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that 27 might reveal Protected Material. However, the protections conferred by this Order do 28 not cover the following information: (a) any information 1 that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes 2 part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of 3 publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the 4 public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the 5 Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the 6 disclosure from a source who obtained the information lawfully and under no 7 obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected Material at 8 trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 9 4. DURATION 10 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 11 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise 12 in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the 13 later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this action, with or without 14 prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all 15 appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits 16 for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 17 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 19 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 20 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 21 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 22 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 23 qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications 24 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 25 this Order. 26 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 27 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose 28 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process or to impose 1 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the Designating Party to 2 sanctions. 3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 5 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this 7 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated 8 or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this 9 Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 11 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 12 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the 13 Producing Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains 14 protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 15 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., 16 by making appropriate markings in the margins). 17 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for 18 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 19 indicated which material it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 20 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 21 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it 22 wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 23 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the 24 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to 25 each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material 26 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 27 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 28 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, 1 that the Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, 2 hearing, or other proceeding, all protected testimony. 3 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any 4 other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior 5 of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend 6 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant 7 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 8 portion(s). 9 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 10 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 11 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon 12 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to 13 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 14 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 15 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 16 designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating 17 Party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial 18 unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the 19 litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality designation by 20 electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation is disclosed. 21 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 22 resolution process by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and 23 describing the basis for each challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge 24 has been made, the written notice must recite that the challenge to confidentiality is 25 being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of the Protective Order. The 26 parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process 27 by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other forms of communication are 28 not sufficient) within 14 days of the date of service of notice. In conferring, the 1 Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality 2 designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to 3 review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in 4 designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A Challenging 5 Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in 6 this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling 7 to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 8 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without 9 court intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain 10 confidentiality under the court’s local rules within 21 days of the initial notice of 11 challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the meet and confer process 12 will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be 13 accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with 14 the meet and confer requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the 15 Designating Party to make such a motion including the required declaration within 21 16 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall automatically waive the confidentiality 17 designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may 18 file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is good 19 cause for doing so, including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or 20 any portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must be 21 accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with 22 the meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 23 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 24 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., 25 to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose 26 the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived the 27 confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain confidentiality as 28 1 described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of 2 protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court 3 rules on the challenge. 4 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 6 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case 7 only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected 8 Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions 9 described in this Order. When the litigation has been terminated, a Receiving Party 10 must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 11 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 12 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 13 authorized under this Order. 14 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 15 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving 16 Party may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 17 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as 18 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 19 disclose the information for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 20 and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A; 21 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 22 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who 23 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 24 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure 25 is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 26 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 27 (d) the court and its personnel; 28 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock 1 jurors, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this 2 litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 3 (Exhibit A); 4 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is 5 reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 6 Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered 7 by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 8 reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not 9 be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Protective Order. 10 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 11 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 12 (h) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 13 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 14 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 15 OTHER LITIGATION 16 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that 17 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as 18 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 19 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 20 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 21 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 22 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or 23 order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this 24 Protective Order; and 25 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by 26 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 27 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 28 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 1 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 2 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 3 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 4 of its confidential material – and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 5 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful 6 directive from another court. 7 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED 8 IN THIS LITIGATION 9 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 10 Party in this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced 11 by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief 12 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting 13 a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 14 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce 15 a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an 16 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, 17 then the Party shall: 18 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 19 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 20 agreement with a Non-Party; 21 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Protective Order 22 in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 23 description of the information requested; and 24 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 25 Party. 26 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 27 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 28 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 1 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not 2 produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 3 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 4 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense 5 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 6 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 8 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 9 Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the 10 Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all 11 unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to 12 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) 13 request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 14 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 15 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 16 PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 18 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 19 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 21 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 22 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 23 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 24 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 25 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to 26 the court. 27 12. MISCELLANEOUS 28 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 1 person to seek its modification by the court in the future. 2 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By the entry of this Protective Order no 3 Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 4 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Protective Order. Similarly, no 5 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material 6 covered by this Protective Order. 7 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the 8 Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested 9 persons, a Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected Material. 10 A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with the 11 court’s local rules. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court 12 order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. Pursuant to the 13 local rules, a sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected 14 Material at issue is privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to 15 protection under the law. If a Receiving Party's request to file Protected Material under 16 seal pursuant to the court’s local rules is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party 17 may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 18 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 19 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 20 4, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or 21 destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all 22 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 23 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or 24 destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 25 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 26 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material 27 that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained 28 any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, a1 3|| hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, 4|| expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even 5|| such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 6|| constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 8 ORDER 9 The court has reviewed defendants’ proposed protective order. (See ECF No. 17.) As noted at the May 24" hearing, this version of the proposed order comports with the relevant 11}| authorities and the court’s applicable local rule. See L.R. 141.1. The court APPROVES the 12 || protective order, subject to the following clarifications. 13 First, the court did not mean to indicate that it had the authority to order plaintiff to sign a stipulation. Thus, the posture of this order is that it is ordered pursuant to defendants’ motion at 15|| ECF No. 11. References to any such ‘stipulations’ have been omitted from this signed document. 16 Second, references to other courts’ local rules refer instead to this court’s local rules. 17|| Thereunder, once an action is closed, “unless otherwise ordered, the court will not retain 18 || jurisdiction over enforcement of the terms of any protective order filed in that action.” L.R. 141.1(f). Courts in the district generally do not agree to retain jurisdiction for disputes concerning 20 || protective orders after closure of the case. See, e.g., MD Helicopters, Inc. v. Aerometals, Inc., 21]| 2017 WL 495778 (E.D. Cal., Feb. 03, 2017). Thus, the court will not retain jurisdiction over this 22 || protective order once the case is closed. 23 || Dated: May 25, 2022 24 —Frebl Alarm KENDALL J.NE 26 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 27 | | tuna.1822 28 dN 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that 5 I have read in its entirety and understand the Protective Order that was issued by the 6 United States District Court for the Eastern District of California on [date] in the case 7 of Ramon Luna v. Lowe’s, et al., Case No.: 2:21-cv-01822-JAM-KJN. I agree to 8 comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Protective Order and I understand 9 and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 10 punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in 11 any manner any information or item that is subject to this Protective Order to any 12 person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 14 for the Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 15 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this 16 action. 17 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 18 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and 19 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 20 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Protective Order. 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 23 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 24 25 Printed name: _______________________________ 26 27 Signature: __________________________________ 28 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 3 1. At the time of service, I was at least 18 years of age and not a party to this legal action. 4 2. My business address is 15250 Ventura Boulevard, Ninth Floor, Sherman Oaks, 5 CA 91403. 6 3. I served copies of the following documents (specify the exact title of each document served): 7 [PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE ORDER 8 4. I served the documents listed above in item 3 on the following persons at the 9 addresses listed: 10 Babak Kheiri, Esq., Esq. Attorneys for Plaintiff, RAMON B & D LAW GROUP, APLC LUNA 11 10700 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90025 12 Tel: 310-424-5252 Fax: 310-492-5855 13 Email: babak@bdinjurylawgroup.com Email: 14 teamBK@bdinjurylawgroup.com 15 5. a. X ONLY BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION. Only by e-mailing the document(s) to the persons at the e-mail address(es) listed during 16 the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and pursuant to 17 Fed.R.Civ.P.Rule 5., this office will be working remotely, not able to send physical mail as usual, and is therefore using only electronic 18 mails. No electronic message or other indication that the transmission 19 was unsuccessful was received within a reasonable time after the transmission. 20 21 6. I served the documents by the means described in item 5 on (date): see below 22 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct. 23 5/24/2022 Bertha Muñoz 24 DATE (TYPE OR PRINT NAME) (SIGNATURE OF DECLARANT) 25 26 I:\32000-000\32317\Discovery\[Proposed] Protective Order.docx 27 28