Vue v. Pentagon Federal Credit Union ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 PANGNHIA VUE, et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-01063-JLT-SAB 11 Plaintiffs, ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED 12 PROTECTIVE ORDER v. 13 (ECF No. 44) PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, 14 Defendant. 15 16 On March 6, 2024, the parties stipulated through their respective counsel that the following 17 Protective Order (ECF No. 44) be entered: 18 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 19 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or 20 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 21 purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 22 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 23 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 24 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 25 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 26 principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated 27 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 1 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 2 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 3 This action is likely to involve commercially sensitive and confidential information related 4 to the defendant’s internal policies and procedures as well as personal financial information for 5 which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 6 prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information 7 consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 8 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial 9 information (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information 10 otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected 11 from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. 12 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over 13 confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to 14 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material 15 in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, 16 and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is 17 the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons 18 and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a 19 confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public 20 record of this case. 21 2. DEFINITIONS 22 2.1 Action: the above-captioned federal lawsuit. 23 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 24 information or items under this Order. 25 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 26 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 27 Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 1 staff). 2 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 3 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 4 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 5 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 6 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in 7 disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 8 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 9 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 10 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 11 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 12 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 13 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 14 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 15 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 16 Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have appeared in this Action 17 on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, 18 and includes support staff. 19 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 20 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 21 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 22 Material in this Action. 23 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 24 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, 25 storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 26 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 27 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 Producing Party. 2 3. SCOPE 3 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 4 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all 5 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 6 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 7 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. This 8 Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 9 4. DURATION 10 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 11 Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order 12 otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and 13 defenses in this Action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the 14 completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, 15 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to 16 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 Order 20 must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate 21 standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, 22 documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the 23 material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 24 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 25 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 26 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 27 encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 1 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 2 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other 3 Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 4 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 5 (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 6 Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so 7 designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 8 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 9 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 10 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), the Producing Party shall 11 affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 12 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 13 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 14 appropriate markings in the margins). 15 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not 16 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it 17 would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 18 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 19 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 20 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 21 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 22 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material 23 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 24 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 25 (b) For testimony given in depositions, the Designating Party shall identify the 26 testimony deemed to be confidential on the record before the close of the deposition. 27 (c) For tangible items, the Producing Party shall affix in a prominent place on the 1 If only a portion or portions of the items warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent 2 practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 3 (d) For electronic data produced in a native format that is not susceptible to the 4 procedure described in Section 5.2(a) above, the Producing Party shall include the word 5 “CONFIDENTIAL” in the file name. 6 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 7 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 8 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 9 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated 10 in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 11 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 12 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 13 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 14 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process 15 by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each 16 challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must 17 recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with the Protective Order. 18 The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process by 19 conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other forms of communication are not sufficient) 20 within 14 days of the date of service of notice. In conferring, the Challenging Party must explain 21 the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the 22 Designating Party an opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the 23 circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen 24 designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it 25 has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is 26 unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 27 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 1 Local Rule 7 (and in compliance with Civil Local Rule 141, if applicable) within 21 days of the 2 initial notice of challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the meet and confer process 3 will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be accompanied by a 4 competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer 5 requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to make such a 6 motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall 7 automatically waive the confidentiality designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the 8 Challenging Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is 9 good cause for doing so, including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or any 10 portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must be accompanied by a 11 competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer 12 requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 13 6.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 14 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or 15 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to 16 sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all 17 parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled 18 under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 19 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 20 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 21 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for prosecuting, 22 defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the 23 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been 24 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 25 DISPOSITION). 26 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a 27 secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 1 by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 2 information or items designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 3 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 4 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 5 information for this Action; 6 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving 7 Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 8 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 9 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 10 Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 11 (d) the court and its personnel; 12 (e) court reporters and their staff; 13 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to 14 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 17 other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 18 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action to 19 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the witness 20 sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any 21 confidential information unless they sign Exhibit A, unless otherwise agreed by the Designating 22 Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions 23 that reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be 24 disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; 25 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually agreed 26 upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions; and 27 (j) regulators, insurers, and accountants, as necessary for business, legal, or financial 1 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 2 LITIGATION 3 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 4 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 5 must, unless prohibited by law: 6 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 7 copy of the subpoena or court order; 8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 9 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 10 Protective Order and provide a copy of this Protective Order; and 11 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 12 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 13 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or court 14 order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a 15 determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained 16 the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 17 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should 18 be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 19 directive from another court. 20 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 21 LITIGATION 22 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in 23 this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 24 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 25 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 26 protections. 27 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non- 1 Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 2 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or 3 all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 4 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in 5 this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 6 information requested; and 7 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if 8 requested. 9 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 days of 10 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 11 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a 12 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control 13 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 14 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of 15 seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 16 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected Material to 18 any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, the 19 Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized 20 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 21 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 22 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 23 Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 24 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 25 MATERIAL 26 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 27 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving 1 intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 2 production without prior privilege review. 3 12. MISCELLANEOUS 4 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 5 seek its modification by the Court in the future. 6 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order 7 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 8 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 9 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by 10 this Protective Order. 11 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 12 must comply with Civil Local Rule 141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant 13 to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s 14 request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may 15 file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 16 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 17 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 days of a 18 written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to 19 the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” 20 includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 21 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 22 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 23 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, 24 where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the 25 Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 26 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are 27 entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. In addition, the Receiving Party may retain Protected Material as necessary to comply 3||with regulatory, insurance, financial, or other business requirements provided that the Receiving 4||Party destroy any such material in accordance with its standard record retention policies. Any 5||documents retained by the Receiving Party pursuant to this paragraph that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 7} 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures including, 8 || without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 9 COURT ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 10 Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 11 1. The above stipulated protective order (ECF No. 44) is entered; 12 2. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States District 13 Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be filed under seal 14 will require a written request which complies with Local Rule 141; 15 3. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to show 16 either good cause or compelling reasons to seal the documents, depending on the type 17 of filing, Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 2009); Ctr. 18 for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016); and 19 4. If a party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then 20 the previously filed material shall be immediately accepted by the court and become 21 information in the public record and the information will be deemed filed as of the 22 date that the request to file the Protected Information under seal was made. 23 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. F- 2 ee 25||Dated: _ March 7, 2024 " UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 27 28