recognizing trade secrets and confidential business information as 27 legitimate categories of information subject to protection
How later courts described this case
- recognizing trade secrets and confidential business information as 27 legitimate categories of information subject to protection
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
1 SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP
THOMAS R. KAUFMAN, Cal. Bar No. 177936
2 tkaufman@sheppardmullin.com
PAUL BERKOWITZ, Cal. Bar No. 251077
3 pberkowitz@sheppardmullin.com
MICHAELA R. GOLDSTEIN, Cal. Bar No. 316455
4 mgoldstein@sheppardmullin.com
1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1600
5 Los Angeles, California 90067
Telephone: 310.228.3700
6 Facsimile: 310.228.3701
7 Attorneys for Defendant
WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.
8
9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
11
12 Case No. 2:19-cv-06837-JFW-MAA
ALMA SANCHEZ, individually,
13
Plaintiff,
14 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
vs.
15
WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL
16 ASSOCIATION; and DOES 1 through
25, inclusive,
17 [Complaint filed: June 27, 2019]
Defendants.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
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 disclosure
4 and from 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 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be
13 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from
14 the court to file material under seal.
15 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
16 Good cause exists for a Protective Order because both Plaintiff and Defendant’s
17 document productions may disclose information relating to (1) private bank customer
18 information, such as account numbers and photographs of bank customers; (2)
19 Plaintiff’s Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”); (3) the PII of non-party
20 employees of Defendant; (4) the confidential business practices of Defendant, which
21 Defendant safeguards as a means to ensure competitiveness in the financial industry;
22 and (5) Defendant’s confidential investigation practices relating to lost, misplaced,
23 and stolen monies. See Harmon v. City of Santa Clara, 323 F.R.D. 617, 623 (N.D.
24 Cal. 2018) (identifying privacy interests, among others when considering existence of
25 good cause); Nutratech, Inc. v. Syntech (SSPF) Int’l, Inc., 242 F.R.D. 552, 554 (C.D.
26 Cal. 2007) (recognizing trade secrets and confidential business information as
27 legitimate categories of information subject to protection).
1 3. DEFINITIONS
2 3.1 Action: The case Alma Sanchez v. Wells Fargo, Case No. 2:19-cv-
3 06837-JFW-MAA, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 27, 2019.
4 3.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation
5 of information or items under this Order.
6 3.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
7 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection
8 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good
9 Cause Statement.
10 3.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their
11 support staff).
12 3.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
13 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
14 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
15 3.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
16 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
17 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or
18 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
19 3.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
20 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
21 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
22 3.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
23 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
24 counsel.
25 3.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
26 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
27 3.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
1 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which
2 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
3 3.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
4 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
5 support staffs).
6 3.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
7 Discovery Material in this Action.
8 3.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
9 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
10 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
11 and their employees and subcontractors.
12 3.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
13 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 3.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
15 from a Producing Party.
16 4. SCOPE
17 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
18 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted
19 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of
20 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties
21 or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
22 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
23 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
24 5. DURATION
25 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations
26 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees
27 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be
1 or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and
2 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action,
3 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time
4 pursuant to applicable law.
5 6. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
6 6.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
7 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this
8 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies
9 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection
10 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that
11 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or
12 communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably
13 within the ambit of this Order.
14 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
15 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
16 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
17 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party
18 to sanctions.
19 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
20 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
21 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
22 6.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
23 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
24 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
25 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
26 produced.
27 6.3 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
1 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
2 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
3 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
4 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
5 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
6 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
7 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
8 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
9 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
10 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before
11 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed
12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it
13 wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents,
14 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing
15 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL
16 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of
17 the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly
18 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
19 margins).
20 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the
21 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all
22 protected testimony.
23 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for
24 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the
25 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
26 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
27 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
1 6.4 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
2 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the
3 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
4 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
5 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
6 Order.
7 7. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
8 7.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
9 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
10 Scheduling Order.
11 7.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
12 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.
13 7.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on
14 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose
15 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may
16 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived
17 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the
18 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
19 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
20 8. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
21 8.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
22 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
23 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
24 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
25 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving
26 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).
27
1 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
2 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
3 authorized under this Order.
4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
8 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action,
9 as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel)
12 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
16 (d) the court and its personnel;
17 (e) court reporters and their staff;
18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and
19 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and
20 who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information
22 or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for witnesses, in
24 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing
25 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they
26 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
2 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as
3 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
4 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
5 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
6 9. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED
7 IN OTHER LITIGATION
8 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation
9 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
10 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
11 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such
12 notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
13 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or
14 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the
15 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include
16 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
17 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be
18 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
19 (d) If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party
20 served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated
21 in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which
22 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s
23 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking
24 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions
25 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to
26 disobey a lawful directive from another court.
27
1 10. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by
4 a Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information
5 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the
6 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be
7 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request,
9 to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is
10 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s
11 confidential information, then the Party shall:
12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the
13 Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality
14 agreement with a Non-Party;
15 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the
16 Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a
17 reasonably specific description of the information requested; and
18 (c) make the information requested available for inspection by the
19 Non-Party, if requested. If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this
20 court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the
21 Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to
22 the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving
23 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to
24 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
25 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense
26 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.
27
1 11. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
2 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
3 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
4 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
5 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
6 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
7 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
8 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
9 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
10 12. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
11 PROTECTED MATERIAL
12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
13 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
14 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
15 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
16 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
17 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
18 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
19 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
20 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted
21 to the court.
22 13. MISCELLANEOUS
23 13.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
24 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
25 13.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
26 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
27 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
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 13.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
4 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may
5 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific
6 Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is
7 denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public
8 record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
9 14. 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 this
13 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 Party
16 must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person
17 or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by
18 category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed
19 and (2)affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts,
20 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the
21 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an
22 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).
1|}15. 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 | IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
6
7 ||Dated: September 18, 2019 SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP
8 By /s/ Michaela Goldstein
9 THOMAS R. KAUFMAN
10 PAUL BERKOWITZ
MICHAELA R. GOLDSTEIN
11 Attorneys for Defendant
12 WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.
13
4 Dated: September 18, 2019 JAURIGUE LAW GROUP
15 By /s/ Michael Jaurigue
MICHAEL JAURIGUE
16 Attorney for Plaintiff
17 ALMA SANCHEZ
18
19
20
21 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
22
23 DATED: October 2, 2019
24 .
25
26 Hono aria A. Audero
27 United States Magistrate Judge
28
1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3 I, [print or type full name], of
4 [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury
5 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was
6 issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on
7 _____________ [date] in the case of Alma Sanchez v. Wells Fargo, Case No. 2:19-
8 cv-06837-JFW-MAA. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this
9 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so
10 comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I
11 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that
12 is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict
13 compliance with the provisions of this Order.
14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
15 Central 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
18 [print or type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for
19 service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to
20 enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.
21 Date:
22 City and State where sworn and signed:
23 Printed name:
24 Signature:
25
26
27