Bueno v. Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary School District ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DAISY BUENO, individually and as Case No. 1:21-cv-436-AWI-HBK guardian ad litem of S.B., a minor, 12 ORDER GRANTING STIPULATED Plaintiff, PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 v. (Doc. No. 49) 14 BASS LAKE JOINT UNION 15 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT, 16 Defendant. 17 18 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) the parties have met and conferred and 19 agree that the discovery of Confidential Materials in this matter be made pursuant to the terms of 20 this Protective Order. 21 GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, the parties stipulate, through their attorneys of record, to 22 the entry of an order as follows: 23 In order to facilitate the exchange of information and documents during the course of 24 discovery, which may be subject to confidentiality and extremely sensitive and private limitations 25 due to federal laws, state laws, and privacy rights, the Parties are hereby ordered to comply with 26 the terms of the following Protective Order: 27 1. The Need For A Protective Order. The request for a protective order is controlled 28 1 by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The Rule permits the Court to issue orders to “protect a 2 party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense, 3 including . . . requiring that a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or 4 commercial information not be revealed or be revealed only in a specified way.” Only if good 5 cause exists may the Court seal the information from public view after balancing “the needs for 6 discovery against the need for confidentiality.’” Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 7 678 (9th Cir. Cal. 2010) (quoting Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 8 1206, 1213 (9th Cir. 2002)). 9 Generally, documents filed in civil cases are to be available to the public. EEOC v. 10 Erection Co., 900 F.2d 168, 170 (9th Cir. 1990); see also Kamakana v. City and County of 11 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir.2006); Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 12 1122, 1134 (9th Cir.2003). However, “[t]he court, may, for good cause, issue an order to protect 13 a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expenses.” 14 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c); Seattle Times Co. Rhinehart, 476 U.S. 20, 35-26, 104 S. Ct. 2199, 81 L. Ed. 15 2d 17 (1984). In order to show good cause, the party seeking the protective order “bears the 16 burden of showing specific prejudice or harm will result if no protective order is granted. Phillips 17 v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002). 18 Parties are jointly seeking a protective order for medical and educational records 19 regarding plaintiffs S.B. and medical records regarding Daisy Bueno. Education records of a 20 special education students are protected from public disclosure under the Family Education 21 Rights and Privacy Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. § 1232g) and California Education Code § 49076. 22 Thus, the court finds find good cause supports a protective order over S.B.’s educational records. 23 With respect to medical records, “[m]edical records are precisely the type of records that 24 are routinely entitled to protection under protective orders.” Thomas v. Douglas, Case No. CV- 25 14-8013-FMO (AGRx), 2015 WL 13763646, at *2 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 17, 2015); Fischer v. City of 26 Portland, No. CV 02-1728, 2003 WL 23537981, at *4 (D. Or. Aug. 22, 2003) (finding medical 27 records were “categorically entitled to some pretrial protection from public disclosure”). Thus, 28 the Court finds good cause supports a protective order over the personal medical records of 1 Plaintiff’s S.B. and Daisy Bueno. 2 2. In this Protective Order, the words set forth below shall have the following 3 meanings: 4 a. “Proceeding” means the above-entitled proceeding. 5 b. “Court” means the Hon. Helena M. Barch-Kuchta, or any other judge to which this 6 Proceeding may be assigned, including Court staff participating in such proceedings. 7 c. “Confidential” means any information regarding S.B.’s medical and educational 8 and Daisy Bueno’s medical records which is in the possession of a Designating Party who 9 believes in good faith that such information is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable 10 law, limited to Documents, Testimony, or Information as defined below. 11 d. “Confidential Materials” means any Documents, Testimony or Information as 12 defined below designated as “Confidential” pursuant to the provisions of this Stipulation and 13 Protective Order. 14 e. “Designating Party” means the Party that designates Materials as “Confidential.” 15 f. “Disclose” or “Disclosed” or “Disclosure” means to reveal, divulge, give, or make 16 available Materials, or any part thereof, or any information contained therein. 17 g. “Documents” means (i) any “Writing,” “Original,” and “Duplicate,” which have 18 been produced in discovery in this Proceeding by any person, and (ii) any copies, reproductions, 19 or summaries of all or any part of the foregoing regarding S.B.’s medical and educational and 20 Daisy Bueno’s medical records. 21 h. “Information” means the content of Documents or Testimony. 22 i. “Testimony” means all depositions, declarations or other testimony taken or used 23 in this Proceeding. 24 3. The Designating Party shall have the right to designate as “Confidential” any 25 Documents, Testimony or Information that the Designating Party in good faith believes to contain 26 non-public information that is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable law. However, 27 the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following information: 28 (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party of 1 becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of a 2 publication not involving a violation of this Order. 3 4. The entry of Protective Order does not alter, waive, modify, or abridge any right, 4 privilege or protection otherwise available to any Party with respect to the discovery of matters, 5 including but not limited to any Party’s right to assert the attorney-client privilege, the attorney 6 work product doctrine, or other privileges, or any Party’s right to contest any such assertion. 7 5. Any Documents, Testimony or Information to be designated as “Confidential” 8 must be clearly so designated before the Document, Testimony or Information is Disclosed or 9 produced. The parties may agree that the case name and number are to be part of the 10 “Confidential” designation. The “Confidential” designation should not obscure or interfere with 11 the legibility of the designated Information. 12 a. For Documents (apart from transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 13 proceedings), the Designating Party must affix the legend “Confidential” on each page of any 14 Document containing such designated Confidential Material. 15 b. For Testimony given in depositions the Designating Party may either: 16 i. identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, all 17 “Confidential” Testimony, by specifying all portions of the Testimony that 18 qualify as “Confidential;” or 19 ii. designate the entirety of the Testimony at the deposition as “Confidential” 20 (before the deposition is concluded) with the right to identify more specific 21 portions of the Testimony as to which protection is sought within 30 days 22 following receipt of the deposition transcript. In circumstances where 23 portions of the deposition Testimony are designated for protection, the 24 transcript pages containing “Confidential” Information may be separately 25 bound by the court reporter, who must affix to the top of each page the 26 legend “Confidential,” as instructed by the Designating Party. 27 c. For Information produced in some form other than Documents, and for any other 28 tangible items, including, without limitation, compact discs or DVDs, the Designating Party must 1 affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the Information 2 or item is stored the legend “Confidential.” If only portions of the Information or item warrant 3 protection, the Designating Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the “Confidential” 4 portions. 5 6. The inadvertent production by any of the undersigned Parties or non-Parties to the 6 Proceedings of any Document, Testimony or Information during discovery in this Proceeding 7 without a “Confidential” designation, shall be without prejudice to any claim that such item is 8 “Confidential” and such Party shall not be held to have waived any rights by such inadvertent 9 production. In the event that any Document, Testimony or Information that is subject to a 10 “Confidential” designation is inadvertently produced without such designation, the Party that 11 inadvertently produced the document shall give written notice of such inadvertent production 12 within twenty (20) days of discovery of the inadvertent production, together with a further copy 13 of the subject Document, Testimony or Information designated as “Confidential” (the 14 “Inadvertent Production Notice”). Upon receipt of such Inadvertent Production Notice, the Party 15 that received the inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information shall promptly 16 destroy the inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information and all copies thereof, 17 or, at the expense of the producing Party, return such together with all copies of such Document, 18 Testimony or Information to counsel for the producing Party and shall retain only the 19 “Confidential” designated Materials. Should the receiving Party choose to destroy such 20 inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information, the receiving Party shall notify the 21 producing Party in writing of such destruction within ten (10) days of receipt of written notice of 22 the inadvertent production. This provision is not intended to apply to any inadvertent production 23 of any Information protected by attorney-client or work product privileges. In the event that this 24 provision conflicts with any applicable law regarding waiver of confidentiality through the 25 inadvertent production of Documents, Testimony or Information, such law shall govern. 26 7. In the event that counsel for a Party receiving Documents, Testimony or 27 Information in discovery designated as “Confidential” objects to such designation with respect to 28 any or all of such items, said counsel shall advise counsel for the Designating Party, in writing, of 1 such objections, the specific Documents, Testimony or Information to which each objection 2 pertains, and the specific reasons and support for such objections (the “Designation Objections”). 3 Counsel for the Designating Party shall have thirty (30) days from receipt of the written 4 Designation Objections to agree in writing to de-designate Documents, Testimony or Information 5 pursuant to any or all of the Designation Objections. If Counsel for the Designating Party fails to 6 agree in writing to de-designate Documents, Testimony or Information pursuant to any or all of 7 the Designation Objections then the Objecting Party shall file a motion with the Court within 8 sixty days of service of the Designation Objections seeking to overrule any or all designations on 9 Documents, Testimony or Information addressed by the Designation Objections (the 10 “Designation Motion”). Pending a resolution of the Designation Motion by the Court, any and all 11 existing designations on the Documents, Testimony or Information at issue in such Motion shall 12 remain in place. The Designating Party shall have the burden on any Designation Motion of 13 establishing the applicability of its “Confidential” designation. 7. Access to and/or Disclosure of 14 Confidential Materials designated as “Confidential” shall be permitted only to the Court, counsel 15 for a party (including the paralegal, clerical, and secretarial staff employed by such counsel), and 16 to the “qualified persons” designated below: 17 a. The named parties and their employees, representatives and agents who are 18 deemed necessary to the prosecution or defense of that party’s position in this litigation; 19 b. those officers, directors, partners, members, employees and agents of all non- 20 designating Parties that counsel for such Parties deems necessary to aid counsel in the prosecution 21 and defense of this Proceeding; 22 c. court reporters in this Proceeding (whether at depositions, hearings, or any other 23 proceeding); 24 d. any deposition, trial or hearing witness in the Proceeding who previously has had 25 access to the Confidential Materials, or who is currently or was previously an officer, director, 26 partner, member, employee or agent of an entity that has had access to the Confidential Materials; 27 e. any deposition or non-trial hearing witness in the Proceeding who previously did 28 not have access to the Confidential Materials; 1 f. outside experts or expert consultants consulted by the undersigned Parties or their 2 counsel in connection with the Proceeding, whether or not retained to testify at any oral hearing. 3 It shall be the obligation of counsel, upon learning of any breach or threatened breach of this 4 Stipulation and Protective Order by any such expert or expert consultant, to promptly notify 5 counsel for the Designating Party of such breach or threatened breach; and 6 g. any other person that the Designating Party agrees to in writing. 7 Prior to receiving any Confidential Materials, each “qualified person,” as defined herein shall be 8 provided with a copy of this Order and shall execute a nondisclosure agreement in the form of 9 Attachment A. The attorneys of record shall maintain a file of all nondisclosure agreements 10 signed by a representative of each law firm on behalf of counsel for each party who have received 11 access to Confidential Materials. Additionally, the attorneys of record shall maintain a file of 12 nondisclosure agreements signed by any “qualified persons” receiving access to Confidential 13 Materials. Said file shall be made available upon request for inspection and copying by any 14 attorney of record, except as to non-testifying experts and consultants, absent good cause shown. 15 The failure of any person or entity to execute a nondisclosure agreement shall not relieve any 16 recipient of Confidential Material from compliance with the provisions of this Order. 17 8. Confidential Materials shall be used by the persons receiving them only for the 18 purposes of preparing for, conducting, participating in the conduct of, and/or prosecuting and/or 19 defending the Proceeding, and not for any business or other purpose whatsoever. 20 9. Any Party to the Proceeding (or other person subject to the terms of this Protective 21 Order) may ask the Court, after appropriate notice to the other Parties to the Proceeding, to 22 modify or grant relief from any provision of this Protective Order. 23 10. Entering into, agreeing to, and/or complying with the terms of this Protective 24 Order shall not: 25 a. operate as an admission by any person that any particular Document, Testimony or 26 Information marked “Confidential” contains or reflects trade secrets, proprietary, confidential or 27 competitively sensitive business, commercial, financial or personal information; or 28 b. prejudice in any way the right of any Party (or any other person subject to the 1 terms of this Protective Order): 2 i. to seek a determination by the Court of whether any particular Confidential 3 Material should be subject to protection as “Confidential” under the terms of this 4 Stipulation and Protective Order; or 5 ii. to seek relief from the Court on appropriate notice to all other Parties to the 6 Proceeding from any provision(s) of this Protective Order, either generally or as to 7 any particular Document, Material or Information. 8 11. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be construed to preclude any Party from 9 asserting in good faith that certain Confidential Materials require additional protection. The 10 Parties shall meet and confer to agree upon the terms of such additional protection. 11 12. If, after execution of this Protective Order, any Confidential Materials submitted 12 by a Designating Party under the terms of this Protective Order is Disclosed by a non-Designating 13 Party to any person other than in the manner authorized by this Protective Order, the non- 14 Designating Party responsible for the Disclosure shall bring all pertinent facts relating to the 15 Disclosure of such Confidential Materials to the immediate attention of the Designating Party. 16 13. This Protective Order is entered into without prejudice to the right of any Party to 17 knowingly waive the applicability of this Stipulation and Protective Order to any Confidential 18 Materials designated by that Party. If the Designating Party uses Confidential Materials in a non- 19 Confidential manner, then the Designating Party shall advise that the designation no longer 20 applies. 21 14. Where any Confidential Materials, or Information derived from Confidential 22 Materials, is included in any motion or other proceeding, the same shall be submitted to the Court 23 with a Request to Seal Documents in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 and 24 Eastern District Local Rule 141. 25 15. The Parties shall meet and confer regarding the procedures for use of Confidential 26 Materials at trial and shall move the Court for entry of an appropriate order. 27 16. Nothing in this Protective Order shall affect the admissibility into evidence of 28 Confidential Materials, or abridge the rights of any person to seek judicial review or to pursue 1 | other appropriate judicial action with respect to any ruling made by the Court concerning the 2 | issue of the status of Protected Material. 3 17. This Protective Order shall continue to be binding after the conclusion of this 4 | Proceeding and all subsequent proceedings arising from this Proceeding, except that a Party may 5 | seek the written permission of the Designating Party or may move the Court for relief from the 6 | provisions of this Protective Order. To the extent permitted by law, the Court shall retain 7 | jurisdiction to enforce, modify, or reconsider this Stipulation and Protective Order, even after the 8 | Proceeding is terminated. 9 18. Upon written request made within thirty (30) days after the settlement or other 10 | termination of the Proceeding, the undersigned Parties shall have thirty (30) days to either (a) 11 | promptly return to counsel for each Designating Party all Confidential Materials and all copies 12 | thereof (except that counsel for each Party may maintain in its files, in continuing compliance 13 || with the terms of this Protective Order, all work product, and one copy of each pleading filed with 14 | the Court, (b) agree with counsel for the Designating Party upon appropriate methods and 15 | certification of destruction or other disposition of such Confidential Materials, or (c) as to any 16 | Documents, Testimony or other Information not addressed by sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), file a 17 | motion seeking a Court order regarding proper preservation of such Materials. To the extent 18 | permitted by law the Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction to review and rule upon the motion 19 | referred to in sub-paragraph (c) herein. 20 | IT IS SO ORDERED | Dated: _ January 12. 2023 Mihaw. fares Back 22 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA 33 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 3 4 Attachment A 5 NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT 6 7 I,________________________________________________, do solemnly swear that I 8 am fully familiar with the terms of the Stipulated Protective Order entered into Daisy Bueno, 9 individually and as guardian ad litem of S.B., a minor v. Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary 10 School District, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Civil Action 11 No. 1:21-cv-00436-AWI-HBK, and hereby agree to comply with and be bound by the terms and 12 conditions of said Order unless and until modified by further Order of this Court. I hereby 13 consent to the jurisdiction of said Court for purposes of enforcing this Order. 14 15 DATED:____________________________________________ 16 17 BY:________________________________________________ 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28