# Ramsey v. Farmers New World Life Insurance Company

> District Court, E.D. California · March 4, 2020

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10017456

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, E.D. California
- **Decided:** March 4, 2020
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

1 ROYAL F. OAKES (SBN 080480)
roakes@hinshawlaw.com
2 MICHAEL A.S. NEWMAN (SBN 205299)
mnewman@hinshawlaw.com
3 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP
633 West 5th Street, 47th Floor
4 Los Angeles, CA 90071-2043
Telephone: 213-680-2800
5 Facsimile: 213-614-7399

6 Attorneys for Defendant
FARMERS NEW WORLD LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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PATROCINA A. RAMSEY, Case No. 1:19-cv-00405-DAD-SAB

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Plaintiff, (Honorable Dale A. Drozd)

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vs. ORDER RE STIPULATION FOR
PROTECTIVE ORDER
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FARMERS NEW WORLD LIFE
14 INSURANCE COMPANY, and DOES 1
through 50, inclusive,
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Defendants.
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1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
3 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public
4 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may
5 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to
6 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this
7 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
9 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment
10 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in
11 Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to
12 file confidential information under seal.
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14 A. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
15 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, development, commercial,
16 financial, personal, technical and/or proprietary information for which special
17 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than
18 prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials
19 and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial
20 information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other
21 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including
22 information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise
23 generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise
24 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions,
25 or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the
26 prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to
27 adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure
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1 that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in
2 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the
3 litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is
4 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be
5 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated
6 without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public
7 manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this
8 case.
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10 2. DEFINITIONS
11 2.1 Action: The above-entitled action.
12 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the
13 designation 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
17 the Good Cause Statement.
18 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
19 their 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.
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1 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
2 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a party or its counsel to serve as
3 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
4 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
5 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
6 counsel.
7 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
8 other legal entity not named as a party to this action.
9 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a
10 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and
11 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm
12 which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
13 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
14 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
15 support staffs).
16 2.12 Producing Party: a party or non-party that produces Disclosure or
17 Discovery Material in this Action.
18 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation
19 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
20 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
21 and their employees and subcontractors.
22 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
23 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
24 2.15 Receiving Party: a party that receives Disclosure or Discovery
25 Material from a Producing Party.
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27 3. SCOPE
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1 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
2 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or
3 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
4 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
5 presentations by parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
6 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial
7 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
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9 4. DURATION
10 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as
11 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will
12 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless
13 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are
14 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of
15 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause”
16 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons”
17 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the
18 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
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20 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
21 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
22 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
23 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
24 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
25 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
26 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents,
27 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept
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1 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized
2 designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or
3 that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the
4 case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other
5 parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions.
6 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
7 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
8 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
9 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
10 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
11 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
12 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
13 produced.
14 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
15 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
16 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
17 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
18 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page
19 that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material
20 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly
21 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
22 margins).
23 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
24 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
25 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and
26 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be
27 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the
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1 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which
2 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before
3 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the
4 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a
5 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing
6 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate
7 markings in the margins).
8 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify
9 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the
10 deposition all protected testimony.
11 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and
12 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent
13 place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information
14 is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the
15 information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent
16 practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s).
17 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
18 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
19 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
20 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
21 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
22 Order.
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24 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
25 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
26 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
27 Scheduling Order.
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1 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
2 resolution process.
3 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on
4 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper
5 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other
6 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating
7 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall
8 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is
9 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the
10 challenge.
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12 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
13 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
14 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
15 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
16 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
17 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a
18 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL
19 DISPOSITION).
20 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
21 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
22 authorized under this Order.
23 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
24 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
25 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
26 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
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1 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well
2 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
3 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
4 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the
5 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
6 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
7 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
8 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
9 (d) the court and its personnel;
10 (e) court reporters and their staff;
11 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
12 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who
13 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
14 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
15 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
16 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the
17 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing
18 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2)
19 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign
20 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless
21 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of
22 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected
23 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed
24 to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
25 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
26 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
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1 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED
2 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION
3 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that
4 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
5 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
6 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification
7 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order
9 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the
10 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall
11 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
12 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be
13 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
14 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the
15 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action
16 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the
17 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s
18 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking
19 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions
20 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action
21 to disobey a lawful directive from another court.
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23 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
24 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
25 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a
26 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such
27 information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is
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1 protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these
2 provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking
3 additional protections.
4 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to
5 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the
6 Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-
7 Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall:
8 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that
9 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement
10 with a Non-Party;
11 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective
12 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific
13 description of the information requested; and
14 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-
15 Party, if requested.
16 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14
17 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party
18 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the
19 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving
20 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject
21 to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by
22 the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the
23 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.
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25 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
26 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
27 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
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1 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
2 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
3 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
4 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
5 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
6 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
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8 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
9 PROTECTED MATERIAL
10 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
11 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
12 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
13 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
14 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without
15 prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar
16 as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
17 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
18 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted
19 to the court.
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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
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1 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
2 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
3 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
4 Protected Material must comply with the applicable Local Rule. Protected Material
5 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
6 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material
7 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information
8 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
9 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60
11 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return
12 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in
13 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,
14 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
15 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving
16 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same
17 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies
18 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
19 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,
20 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any
21 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to
22 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
23 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
24 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such
25 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
26 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
27 Section 4 (DURATION).
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2 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate
3 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary
4 sanctions.
5 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
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7 DATED _______________________
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_____________________________________
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Attorneys for Plaintiff
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DATED:________________________
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14 _____________________________________
15 Attorneys for Defendant

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ORDER
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19 Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
20 1. The protective order is entered;
21 2. The parties are advised that pursuant to the Local Rules of the United States
22 District Court, Eastern District of California, any documents which are to be
23 filed under seal will require a written request which complies with Local Rule
24 141; and
25 3. The party making a request to file documents under seal shall be required to
26 show good cause for documents attached to a nondispositive motion or
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1 compelling reasons for documents attached to a dispositive motion. Pintos v.
2 Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-78 (9th Cir. 2009).
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4 IT IS SO ORDERED. □□ (Se
5 ||Dated: _March 3, 2020 OF
6 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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ur STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY AND [PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE ORDER

1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
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4 I, _____________________________ , of _________________ , declare
5 under 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 Central
7 District of California in the case of Patrocina A. Ramsey v. Farmers New World
8 Life Insurance Company, Case No. 1:19-cv-00405-DAD-SAB. I agree to comply
9 with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I
10 understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions
11 and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not
12 disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated
13 Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the
14 provisions of this Order.
15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
16 Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this
17 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after
18 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ of
19 _______________________________________ as my California agent for service
20 of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement
21 of this Stipulated Protective Order.
22 Date: ______________________________________
23 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________
24 Printed name: _______________________________
25 Signature: __________________________________

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10017456. Public record. Not legal advice.