Espinoza v. Guardian Industries, LLC ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 FRANK ESPINOZA, Case No. 1:24-cv-00853-KES-SAB 11 Plaintiff, ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED 12 PROTECTIVE ORDER v. 13 (ECF No. 7) GUARDIAN INDUSTRIES, LLC, 14 Defendant. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, 3 or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 4 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 5 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 6 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 7 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 8 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 10 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, 11 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential 12 information under seal; Civil Local Rule 141 and the applicable standing order of the 13 assigned district judge set forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards 14 that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under 15 seal. 16 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 17 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and other 18 valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary 19 information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 20 purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and 21 proprietary materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential 22 business or financial information, information regarding confidential business 23 practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial information 24 (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information 25 otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise 26 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, 27 or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the 1 adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure 2 that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation 3 for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, 4 and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this 5 matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as 6 confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith 7 belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is 8 good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 9 2. DEFINITIONS 10 2.1 Action: FRANK ESPINOZA v. GUARDIAN INDUSTRIES, LLC., 11 Case No. 1:24 - 00853-KES-SAB; Individual, Class, & Representative Action. 12 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 13 of information or items under this Order. 14 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 15 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 16 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the 17 Good Cause Statement. 18 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 19 support staff). 20 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 21 Items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 23 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 24 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 25 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 26 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 27 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 1 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 2 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 3 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 4 counsel. 5 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 6 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 7 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 8 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 9 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which 10 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 11 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 12 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 13 support staffs). 14 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 15 Discovery Material in this Action. 16 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 17 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 18 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 19 and their employees and subcontractors. 20 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 21 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 23 from a Producing Party. 24 3. SCOPE 25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 26 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 27 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected 1 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 2 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial 3 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 4 4. DURATION 5 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 6 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees 7 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be 8 deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with 9 or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and 10 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, 11 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time 12 pursuant to applicable law. 13 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 15 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 16 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 17 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 18 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 19 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications 20 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 21 this Order. 22 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that 23 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose 24 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 25 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 26 to sanctions. 27 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 1 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 2 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 3 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 4 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 5 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 6 produced. Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 7 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 8 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 9 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 10 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 11 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 12 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 13 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 14 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need 15 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which 16 documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the 17 designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 18 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants 19 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 20 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the 21 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” 22 to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the 23 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 24 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 25 margins). 26 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the 27 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all 1 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 2 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 3 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 4 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 5 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 6 portion(s). 7 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an 8 inadvertent failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing 9 alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for 10 such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must 11 make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 12 provisions of this Order. 13 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 14 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge 15 a designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 16 Scheduling Order. 17 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 18 resolution process under the applicable rules of the magistrate judge assigned to this 19 Action. 20 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 21 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 22 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 23 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived 24 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the 25 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing 26 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 27 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 1 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 2 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 3 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 4 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 5 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 6 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 7 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 8 authorized under this Order. 9 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 10 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 11 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 12 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 13 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 14 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 15 disclose the information for this Action; 16 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 17 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; (c) 18 Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 19 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 20 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (d) the court and its personnel; 22 (e) court reporters and their staff; 23 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 24 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 25 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 26 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 27 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 1 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 2 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 3 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 4 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 5 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 6 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 7 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 8 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 9 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 10 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 11 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 12 IN OTHER LITIGATION If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued 13 in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in 14 this Action as CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 15 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 16 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 17 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 18 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 19 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 20 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 21 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 22 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the 23 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena 24 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 26 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 27 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 1 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 2 directive from another court. 3 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 4 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 5 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 6 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 7 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 8 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 9 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 10 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 11 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 12 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 13 confidential information, then the Party shall: 14 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 15 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with 16 a Non-Party; 17 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 18 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 19 description of the information requested; and 20 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 21 Party, if requested. (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court 22 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 23 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 24 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 25 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to 26 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 27 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense 1 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL If a 2 Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 3 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated 4 Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the 5 Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve 6 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to 7 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) 8 request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 9 Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 11 PROTECTED MATERIAL When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving 12 Parties that certain inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege 13 or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in 14 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 15 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 16 production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 17 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of 18 a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 19 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 20 protective order submitted to the court. 21 12. MISCELLANEOUS 22 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 23 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 24 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 25 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 26 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 27 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 1 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 2 Protected Material must comply with the applicable Local Rules of the Eastern 3 District, as well as the Standing Order of the district court judge assigned to this 4 Action. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order 5 authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request 6 to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party 7 may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 8 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 9 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 days 10 of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all 11 Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 12 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 13 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 14 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 15 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 16 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies 17 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 18 destroyed and (2)affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 19 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 20 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 21 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 22 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 23 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 24 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 25 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 26 Section 4 (DURATION). 27 /// 1 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 2 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 3 sanctions. 4 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 4 I, [print or type full name], of [print or type full address], declare under 5 penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated 6 Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern 7 District of California on [date] in the case of FRANK ESPINOZA v. GUARDIAN 8 INDUSTRIES, LLC., Case No. 1:24-cv-00853-KES-SAB. I agree to comply with and 9 to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and 10 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment 11 in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner 12 any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any 13 person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. I further 14 agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern 15 District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated 16 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this 17 action. I hereby appoint [print or type full name] of [print or type full address and 18 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 19 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 20 Order. 21 22 Date: ______________________ 23 City and State where sworn and signed: ______________________ 24 Printed Name: ______________________ 25 Signature: ______________________ 26 27 1 COURT ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 3 1. The above stipulated protective order is entered; 4 2. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States District 5 Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be filed under seal 6 will require a written request which complies with Local Rule 141; 7 3. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to show 8 either good cause or compelling reasons to seal the documents, depending on the 9 type of filing, Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 10 2009); Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101 (9th Cir. 11 2016); and 12 4. If a party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then 13 the previously filed material shall be immediately accepted by the court and become 14 information in the public record and the information will be deemed filed as of the 15 date that the request to file the Protected Information under seal was made. 16 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 18 || Dated: September 23, 2024 _ ef 19 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28