Kaori Doling v. Toridoll Dining California, LLC

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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10 SOUTHERN DIVISION

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12 KAORI DOLING, Case No. 8:20-cv-00163-JLS-JDEx

13 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

14 v.

Complaint Filed: November 4, 2019

15 TORIDOLL DINING CALIFORNIA,

LLC; JUN GOTO and DOES 1 through 20,

16 inclusive,

17 Defendants.

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20 Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulation (Dkt. 12) and good cause appearing therefor,

21 the Court finds and orders as follows.

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1 1. 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 use

4 for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the

5 parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated

6 Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket

7 protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords

8 from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are

9 entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles.

10 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

11 This action is likely to involve confidential employee information, trade secrets,

12 customer data, and other private and/or valuable research, development, commercial,

13 financial, technical, and/or proprietary information for which special protection from

14 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is

15 warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of,

16 among other things, employee personnel files, confidential business or financial

17 information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other confidential

18 research, development, or commercial information (including information implicating

19 privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public,

20 or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal

21 statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of

22 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of

23 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep

24 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such

25 material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end

26 of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is

27 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be

28 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a

1 good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and

2 there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case.

3 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE

4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this

5 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under

6 seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the

7 standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file

8 material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to

9 judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive

10 motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City

11 and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors

12 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc.,

13 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good

14 cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper

15 evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected

16 Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure

17 or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—without the submission of

18 competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under

19 seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause.

20 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then

21 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief

22 sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos

23 v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type

24 of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party

25 seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and

26 legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting

27 the application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration.

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1 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its entirety

2 will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents can

3 be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential,

4 privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any

5 application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety should include an

6 explanation of why redaction is not feasible.

7 4. DEFINITIONS

8 4.1. Action: Kaori Doling v. Toridoll Dining California, LLC, et al., C.D. Cal.

9 Case No. 8:20-cv-00163-JLS-JDE.

10 4.2. Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of

11 information or items under this Order.

12 4.3. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it

13 is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under

14 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause

15 Statement.

16 4.4. Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their

17 support staff).

18 4.5. Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or

19 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

20 4.6. Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the

21 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among

22 other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in

23 disclosures or responses to discovery.

24 4.7. Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

25 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an

26 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

27 4.8. House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.

28 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel.

1 4.9. Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other

2 legal entity not named as a Party to this action.

3 4.10. Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to

4 this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in this

5 Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf

6 of that party, and includes support staff.

7 4.11. Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

8 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their

9 support staffs).

10 4.12. Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

11 Discovery Material in this Action.

12 4.13. Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support

13 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or

14 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and

15 their employees and subcontractors.

16 4.14. Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated

17 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

18 4.15. Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material

19 from a Producing Party.

20 5. SCOPE

21 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected

22 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from

23 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected

24 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their

25 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

26 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial

27 judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected

28 Material at trial.

1 6. DURATION

2 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as

3 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as

4 an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of

5 the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual

6 findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See

7 Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing

8 documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-

9 related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective

10 order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.

11 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

12 7.1. Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each

13 Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order

14 must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the

15 appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those

16 parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that

17 other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection

18 is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.

19 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that

20 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g.,

21 to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary

22 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions.

23 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it

24 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must

25 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.

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1 7.2. Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this

2 Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that

3 qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material

4 is disclosed or produced.

5 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

6 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic

7 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings),

8 that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter

9 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a

10 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must

11 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the

12 margins).

13 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need

14 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which

15 documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the

16 designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed

17 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants

18 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions

19 thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified

20 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page

21 that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for

22 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g.,

23 by making appropriate markings in the margins).

24 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party

25 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the

26 deposition all protected testimony.

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1 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and

2 for 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 protection,

5 the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s).

6 7.3. Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure

7 to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the

8 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon

9 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to

10 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

11 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

12 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation

13 of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order.

14 8.2. Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution

15 process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq.

16 8.3. Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint

17 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2.

18 8.4. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the

19 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to

20 harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the

21 Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn

22 the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question

23 the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until

24 the Court rules on the challenge.

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1 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

2 9.1. Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is

3 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action

4 only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected

5 Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions

6 described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must

7 comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).

8 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a

9 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons

10 authorized under this Order.

11 9.2. Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise

12 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party

13 may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

14 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as

15 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary

16 to disclose the information for this Action;

17 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of

18 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;

19 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom

20 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the

21 “Acknowledgement and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

22 (d) the court and its personnel;

23 (e) court reporters and their staff;

24 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional

25 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed

26 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

27 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a

28 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;

1 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the

2 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party

3 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not

4 be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment

5 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating

6 Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to

7 depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter

8 and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective

9 Order; and

10 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel,

11 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.

12 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED

13 IN OTHER LITIGATION

14 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that

15 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as

16 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

17 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification

18 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

19 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order

20 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or

21 order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this

22 Stipulated Protective Order; and

23 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be

24 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the

25 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or

26 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as

27 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or

28 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The

1 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of

2 its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as

3 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive

4 from another court.

5 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE

6 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION

7 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a

8 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information

9 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies

10 and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as

11 prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.

12 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to

13 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject

14 to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential

15 information, then the Party shall:

16 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-

17 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality

18 agreement with a Non-Party;

19 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated

20 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably

21 specific description of the information requested; and

22 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the

23 Non-Party, if requested.

24 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within

25 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may

26 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If

27 the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any

28 information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement

1 with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court order to the

2 contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this

3 court of its Protected Material.

4 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

5 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed

6 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this

7 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing

8 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve

9 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to

10 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request

11 such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound”

12 attached hereto as Exhibit A.

13 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE

14 PROTECTED MATERIAL

15 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently

16 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of

17 the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B).

18 This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-

19 discovery order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to

20 Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the

21 effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client

22 privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the

23 stipulated protective order submitted to the court.

24 14. MISCELLANEOUS

25 14.1. Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any

26 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.

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1 14.2. Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this

2 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to

3 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this

4 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground

5 to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.

6 14.3. Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected

7 Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed

8 under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected

9 Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court,

10 then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise

11 instructed by the court.

12 15. FINAL DISPOSITION

13 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 days

14 of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all

15 Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this

16 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,

17 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material.

18 Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit

19 a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the

20 Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where

21 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that

22 the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or

23 any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding

24 this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion

25 papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence,

26 deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and

27 expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival

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1 ||copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective

2 Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION).

3 16. MIOLATION

4 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including,

5 || without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.

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g GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

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19 DATED: July 29, 2020

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12 JOHN D. EARLY

13 ited States Magistrate Judge

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1 EXHIBIT A

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

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4 I,___________________, of _____________________, 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 July 29,

7 2020, in the case of Kaori Doling v. Toridoll Dining California, LLC, et al., C.D. Cal.

8 Case No. 8:20-cv-00163-JLS-JDE. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the

9 terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to

10 so 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 is

12 subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict

13 compliance with the provisions of this Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction

14 of the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of

15 enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement

16 proceedings occur after termination of this action. I hereby appoint

17 __________________ of _________________________ as my California agent for

18 service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to

19 enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.

20 Date: ____________________

21 City and State where sworn and signed: ___________________________

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23 Print Name: ______________________________

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25 Signature: ________________________________

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