Woolwine v. Kraft Heinz Foods Company ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GREG WOOLWINE, Case No. 1:22-cv-00371-ADA-SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 v. (ECF No. 12) 14 KRAFT HEINZ FOODS COMPANY, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 19 20 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 21 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 22 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 23 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 24 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 25 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following 26 Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket 27 protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from 28 public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to 1 confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as 2 set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file 3 confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be 4 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to 5 file material under seal. 6 2. DEFINITIONS 7 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 8 information or items under this Order. 9 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 10 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 11 of Civil Procedure 26(c). 12 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as 13 well as their support staff). 14 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that 15 it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 16 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 17 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 18 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 19 responses to discovery in this matter. 20 21 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 22 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 23 consultant in this action. 24 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House 25 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 26 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 27 entity not named as a Party to this action. 28 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 1 action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this 2 action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of 3 that party. 4 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 5 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 6 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 7 Material in this action. 8 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 9 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 10 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 11 subcontractors. 12 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 13 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 14 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 15 Producing Party. 16 3. SCOPE 17 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 18 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 19 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 20 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 21 However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 22 information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a 23 Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as 24 a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the 25 public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party 26 prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who 27 obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating 28 Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 1 The types of information eligible for protection under this Stipulation and Order include, 2 without limitation: documents constituting or relating to Plaintiff’s medical records, Plaintiff’s 3 disability, and Plaintiff’s request for accommodation at work; documents constituting or related 4 to employment personnel records of Plaintiff or Defendant’s employees, which is private 5 pursuant to Article 1 Section 1 of the California Constitution; documents constituting or related 6 to Defendant’s confidential policies and/or confidential business records; documents constituting 7 or related to employment investigations regarding Plaintiff and the termination of Plaintiff’s 8 employment. Courts have routinely recognized a legally cognizable privacy interest in records of 9 this nature. See e.g., Doe v. A. J. Boggs & Co., No. 118CV01464AWIBAM, 2019 WL 1517567, 10 at *6 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 8, 2019)(citing Pettus v. Cole, 49 Cal. App. 4th 402, 440 (1996))(ordering 11 discovery of Plaintiffs’ medical information as subject to protective order because “California 12 law recognizes a constitutional right to privacy in an individual’s medical history”); Buchanan v. 13 Santos, No. 1:08-CV-01174-AWI, 2011 WL 2112475, at *5 (E.D. Cal. May 26, 2011) (ordering 14 discovery of personnel records as subject to protective order); Sanchez v. Cty. of Sacramento 15 Sheriff’s Dep’t, No. 2:19-CV-01545 MCE AC, 2020 WL 3542328, at *5 (E.D. Cal. June 30, 16 2020) (ordering discovery of personnel records as subject to protective order). 17 4. DURATION 18 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by 19 this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court 20 order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all 21 claims and defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after 22 the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this 23 action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time 24 pursuant to applicable law. 25 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 27 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care 28 to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. 1 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, 2 items, or oral or written communications that qualify – so that other portions of the material, 3 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 4 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 5 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 6 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 7 unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary 8 expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 9 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated 10 for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other 11 Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 12 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 13 (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 14 Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so 15 designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 16 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 17 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 18 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 19 Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only 20 a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 21 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 22 margins). 23 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need 24 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it 25 would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 26 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 27 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 28 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 1 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 2 “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or 3 portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 4 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 5 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 6 Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other 7 proceeding, all protected testimony. 8 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 9 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the 10 container or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend 11 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, 12 the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 13 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 14 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 15 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 16 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is 17 treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 18 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 19 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 20 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 21 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic 22 burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to 23 challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the 24 original designation is disclosed. 25 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 26 process by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis 27 for each challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written 28 notice must recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this 1 specific paragraph of the Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in 2 good faith and must begin the process by conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other 3 forms of communication are not sufficient) within 14 days of the date of service of notice. In 4 conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality 5 designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the 6 designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, 7 to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next 8 stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first or 9 establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in 10 a timely manner. 11 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 12 intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under 13 Civil Local Rule 7 (and in compliance with Civil Local Rule 79-5, if applicable) within 21 days 14 of the initial notice of challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the meet and 15 confer process will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be 16 accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet 17 and confer requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to 18 make such a motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) 19 shall automatically waive the confidentiality designation for each challenged designation. In 20 addition, the Challenging Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at 21 any time if there is good cause for doing so, including a challenge to the designation of a 22 deposition transcript or any portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must 23 be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the 24 meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 25 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating 26 Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose 27 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to 28 sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to 1 file a motion to retain confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the 2 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s 3 designation until the court 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 disclosed 6 or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for 7 prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be 8 disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. 9 When the litigation has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of 10 section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 11 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and 12 in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 13 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 14 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may 15 disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 16 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as 17 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 18 information for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 19 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A; 20 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving 21 Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 22 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 23 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 24 reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 25 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 26 (d) the court and its personnel; 27 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, 28 and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who 1 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 2 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably 3 necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit 4 A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 5 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be 6 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 7 under this Stipulated Protective Order. 8 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 9 other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 10 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 11 LITIGATION 12 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 13 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that 14 Party must: 15 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 16 copy of the subpoena or court order; 17 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in 18 the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 19 this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; 20 and 21 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 22 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 23 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 24 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 25 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order 26 issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party 27 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material – 28 and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving 1 Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 2 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 3 LITIGATION 4 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in 5 this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 6 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 7 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 8 additional protections. 9 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 10 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement 11 with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some 13 or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 14 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order 15 in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 16 information requested; and 17 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 18 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 19 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce 20 the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party 21 timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its 22 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 23 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 24 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 25 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 27 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 28 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 1 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 2 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 3 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 4 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 5 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 6 MATERIAL 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 8 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 9 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 10 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery 11 order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of 12 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 13 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product 14 protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order 15 submitted to the court. 16 12. MISCELLANEOUS 17 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 18 seek its modification by the court in the future. 19 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective 20 Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 21 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, 22 no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material 23 covered by this Protective Order. 24 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party 25 or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in 26 the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 27 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be 28 filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected 1 Material at issue. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5, a sealing order will issue only upon a 2 request establishing that the Protected Material at issue is privileged, protectable as a trade 3 secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. If a Receiving Party's request to file 4 Protected Material under seal pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5 is denied by the court, then the 5 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5 6 unless otherwise instructed by the court. 7 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 8 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each 9 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such 10 material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 11 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 12 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must 13 submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the 14 Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all 15 the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has 16 not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or 17 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 18 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, 19 legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work 20 product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected 21 Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to 22 this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 23 IT IS SO STIPULATED, BY AND THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 24 25 DATED: December 9, 2022 RUGGLES LAW FIRM 26 27 By:_____________________________ 28 1 MATTHEW J. RUGGLES Attorney for Plaintiff 2 GREG WOOLWINE 3 DATED: _______________ FOLY & LARDNER LLP 4 5 6 By:_____________________________ 7 KALEB N. BERHE Attorney for Defendant 8 KRAFT HEINZ FOODS COMPANY 9 / / / 10 / / / 11 / / / 12 / / / 13 / / / 14 / / / 15 / / / 16 / / / 17 / / / 18 / / / 19 / / / 20 / / / 21 / / / 22 / / / 23 / / / 24 / / / 25 / / / 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 COURT ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY 3 | ORDERED that: 4 1. The above stipulated protective order filed on December 20, 2022, (ECF No. 12), 5 is ENTERED; 6 2. The provisions of the parties’ stipulation and this protective order shall remain in 7 effect until further order of the Court; 8 3. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States 9 District Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be filed 10 under seal will require a written request which complies with Local Rule 141; 11 4. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to show 12 either good cause or compelling reasons to seal the documents, depending on the 13 type of filing, Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 14 2009); Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp... LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 15 2016); and 16 5. If a party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, 17 then the previously filed material shall be immediately accepted by the court and 18 become information in the public record and the information will be deemed filed 19 as of the date that the request to file the Protected Information under seal was 20 made. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 23 | Dated: _ December 20, 2022 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 25 26 27 28 1A