Loui v. Gideon Contracting, LLC ( 2024 )


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  • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JANAI LOUI, Case No. 1:23-cv-00189-JLT-SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED NON- 13 TRIAL CIVIL PROTECTIVE ORDER v. 14 GIDEON CONTRACTING, LLC, et al., (ECF No. 28) 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 IS IT HEREBY STIPULATED by and between Plaintiff JANAI LOUI (“Plaintiff”); 2 Defendant GIDEON CONTRACTING, LLC (“Defendant Gideon”); and Defendant WILLIS 3 DANIEL TYSON (“Defendant Tyson”), by and through their respective counsel of record, that the 4 nature of the above-referenced employment action makes it likely that discoverable information 5 will include information entitled to confidentiality and privacy protections under applicable 6 substantive laws, and in order to facilitate the exchange of information and documents in discovery, 7 the Parties agree and stipulate as follows pursuant to Eastern District of California Local Rule 8 141.1: 9 EASTERN DISTRICT LOCAL RULE 141.1(c) COMPLIANCE 10 Information eligible for protection under the proposed Non-Trial Civil Protective Order 11 (“Order”), and the particularized need for the same are described in Paragraph 2.2 of the Order. The 12 varied nature of discoverable documents, which include information subject to third-party privacy 13 rights, privileged communications, Plaintiff’s medical records, Defendant Gideon’s internal policies 14 and practices, Defendant Gideon’s employees’ information, Defendant Gideon’s contracts and 15 communications, and potentially proprietary information, renders any private agreement inadequate 16 and private enforcement unduly burdensome and ineffective under California law. Potential damages 17 from any private agreement breach could significantly vary depending on the records disclosed and 18 third-partes impacted. This variance may render a liquidated damages provision included in such a 19 private agreement an unenforceable unlawful penalty, ultimately requiring the Parties to any such 20 agreement to individually litigate the consequential damages of every breach. See Cal. Civ. Code § 21 1671(b); Ridgley v. Topa Thrify & Loan Assoc., 17 Cal.4th 970, 976-78 (1998) (The amount set as 22 liquidated damages “must represent the result of a reasonable endeavor by the parties to estimate a 23 fair average compensation for any loss that may be sustained” or else it is unenforceable penalty). 24 Enforcement of confidentiality protections by Court Order implicates the professional responsibility 25 of counsel for all Parties and provides a bulwark against unauthorized disclosure that cannot be 26 adequately ameliorated by threat of civil litigation and monetary damages alone. 27 / / / 1 NON-TRIAL CIVIL PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 3 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, 4 proprietary, and private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use 5 for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties 6 hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 7 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 8 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 9 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 10 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3 below, that this Stipulated Protective 11 Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Rule 141 sets forth the 12 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission 13 from the court to file material under seal. 14 2. DEFINITIONS 15 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information 16 or items under this Order. 17 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 18 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 19 Civil Procedure 26(c), including employment records, private information concerning third-parties, 20 medical records, and correspondence and personal records (including financial records) implicating 21 privacy and third-party privacy interests protected by the California and U.S. Constitutions and 22 applicable California decisional authority. 23 2.3 Counsel: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action but are retained to 24 represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are 25 affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and their staff. 26 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 27 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium 2 or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 3 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 4 discovery in this matter. 5 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 6 litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant 7 in this action. 8 2.7 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 9 entity not named as a Party to this action. 10 2.8 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 11 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 12 2.9 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material 13 in this action. 14 2.10 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 15 photocopying, videotaping, translating, electronic discovery support, preparing exhibits or 16 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their 17 employees and subcontractors. 18 2.11 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 19 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 20 2.12 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 21 Producing Party. 22 3. SCOPE 23 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as 24 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all 25 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 26 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 27 However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 1 Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of 2 publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record 3 through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure 4 or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the information 5 lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected 6 Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 7 4. DURATION 8 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 9 Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees in writing or a court order directs 10 otherwise. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses 11 in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and 12 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, appeals, or reviews of this action, including the 13 time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 14 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 15 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or 16 Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to limit 17 any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 18 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral 19 or written communications that qualify. 20 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 21 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 22 encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 23 other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 24 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 25 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties 26 that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 27 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, 1 Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 2 the material is disclosed or produced. 3 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 4 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 5 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party 6 affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page, folder, and/or media that contains protected 7 material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 8 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 9 margins). 10 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need 11 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would 12 like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made 13 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified 14 the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 15 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified 16 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains 17 Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 18 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 19 markings in the margins). 20 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 21 Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other 22 proceeding, all protected testimony. 23 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 24 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or 25 containers in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion 26 or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, 27 shall identify the protected portion(s). 1 information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure protection 2 under this Order for such material. Upon correction of a designation within 45 days of disclosure of 3 the underlying information or items, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that 4 the underlying information or items are treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 7 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 8 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, 9 or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a 10 confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation 11 is disclosed. 12 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by 13 providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each 14 challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must recite 15 that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of the 16 Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the 17 process by conferring directly within 14 days of the date of service of notice. In conferring, the 18 Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation was not 19 proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the designated material, to 20 reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the 21 chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only 22 if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is 23 unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 24 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 25 intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Local 26 Rule 251 (or, if the parties so stipulate, by seeking an informal video conference pursuant to Magistrate 27 Judge Stanley A. Boone’s informal discovery dispute procedures, including submission of a joint letter 1 meet and confer process will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be 2 accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and 3 confer requirements imposed by Local Rule 251. The Designating Party’s failure to make such a 4 motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall automatically 5 waive the confidentiality designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging 6 Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is good cause for 7 doing so, including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or any portions thereof. 8 Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must be accompanied by a competent declaration 9 affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements imposed by the 10 preceding paragraph. 11 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. 12 Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary 13 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the 14 Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain 15 confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level 16 of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court rules on the 17 challenge. 18 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 19 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 20 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 21 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the 22 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been 23 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 24 DISPOSITION). 25 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a 26 secure manner that ensures that access is solely available to the authorized persons under this Order. 27 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by 1 information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 2 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees 3 of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for 4 this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is 5 attached hereto as Exhibit A; 6 (b) the officers, directors, and employees of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 7 reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 8 Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 9 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 10 reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 11 Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 12 (d) the court and its personnel; 13 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 14 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have 15 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably 17 necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), 18 unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 19 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound 20 by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated 21 Protective Order. 22 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other 23 person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 24 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 25 LITIGATION 26 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 27 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 1 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy 2 of the subpoena or court order; 3 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 4 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 5 Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 6 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 7 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 8 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 9 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before 10 a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained 11 the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 12 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material – and nothing in these provisions should be 13 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive 14 from another court. 15 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 16 LITIGATION 17 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this 18 action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 19 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing 20 in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 21 protections. 22 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non- 23 Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the 24 Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 25 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all 26 of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 27 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in 1 information requested; and 2 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 3 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 days 4 of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 5 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a 6 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control 7 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 8 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 9 protection in this court of its Protected Material. 10 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 11 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 12 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, 13 the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized 14 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, 15 (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 16 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 17 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 18 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 19 MATERIAL 20 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 21 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties 22 are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to 23 modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 24 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 25 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by 26 the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 27 in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 1 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 2 its modification by the court in the future. 3 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order 4 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information 5 or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives 6 any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective 7 Order. 8 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or a 9 court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public 10 record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 11 must comply with Local Rule 141. 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 Local Rule 141, a 13 sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected Material at issue is 14 privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. If a 15 Receiving Party's request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Local Rule 141 is denied 16 by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record pursuant to Local 17 Rule 141 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 4, each 20 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 21 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 22 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the 23 Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to 24 the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 25 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 26 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 27 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 1 papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and 2 trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if 3 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute 4 Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ [print or 4 type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the 5 Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern 6 District of California on [date] in the case of Loui v. Gideon Contracting LLC, et al., E.D. Cal. Case 7 No. 1:23-cv-00189-JLT-SAB. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 8 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could 9 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not 10 disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to 11 any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 12 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern District 13 of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such 14 enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 15 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 16 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as 17 my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related 18 to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 19 20 Date: ______________________________________ 21 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 22 23 Printed name: _______________________________ 24 25 Signature: __________________________________ 26 27 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 is ENTERED; 5 2. The provisions of the parties’ stipulation and this protective order shall remain in 6 effect until further order of the Court; 7 3. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States District 8 Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be filed under seal 9 will require a written request which complies with Local Rule 141; 10 4. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to show 11 either good cause or compelling reasons to seal the documents, depending on the 12 type of filing, Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677—78 (9th Cir. 2009); 13 Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 2016); and 14 5. If a party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then 15 the previously filed material shall be immediately accepted by the court and become 16 information in the public record and the information will be deemed filed as of the 17 date that the request to file the Protected Information under seal was made. 18 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 20 |} Dated: _May 1, 2024 _ ef UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Document Info

Docket Number: 1:23-cv-00189

Filed Date: 5/1/2024

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 6/20/2024