# ARMLA One, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

> District Court, C.D. California · March 12, 2021

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10040383

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, C.D. California
- **Decided:** March 12, 2021
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10040383

## Opinion text

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
12

13 ARMLA ONE, INC., ARMLA TWO, ) Case No.: 2:20-CV-07965-SB-RAO
INC., AND GOMPERS SOCEQ, INC., )
14
) Assigned to Hon. Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr.
15 Plaintiffs, )
16 vs. ) JOINT STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
) ORDER1
17 CITY OF LOS ANGELES, LOS )
18 ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF )
CANNABIS REGULATION, CAT )
19 PACKER, AND DOES 1-100, ) Action Filed: August 31, 2020
20 ) Trial Date: TBD
)
21 Defendants. )
22 )
23
24
25
26
27
1 1. A. 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 be
5 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter
6 the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order
7 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and
8 that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the
9 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the
10 applicable legal principles.
11
12 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
13 This action is likely to involve confidential information for which special
14 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than
15 prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials
16 and information consist of, among other things, personally identifying information
17 (e.g., driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers), confidential business or
18 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices (trade
19 secrets, commercial cannabis application materials, business proposals, the identities
20 of investors and potential investors), information otherwise generally unavailable to
21 the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under
22 state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to
23 expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over
24 confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties
25 are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable
26 necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to
27 address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a
1 parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and
2 that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained
3 in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be
4 part of the public record of this case.
5
6 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER
7 SEAL
8 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this
9 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information
10 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and
11 the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file
12 material under seal.
13 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial
14 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions,
15 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal, see Kamakana v. City and
16 County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006); Phillips v. Gen. Motors
17 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002); Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics,
18 Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require
19 good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons
20 with proper evidentiary support and legal justification must be made with respect to
21 Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation
22 of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—without the
23 submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material
24 sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise
25 protectable—constitute good cause.
26 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then
27 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the
1 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each
2 item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under
3 seal in connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking protection must
4 articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for
5 the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to
6 file documents under seal must be provided by declaration.
7 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in
8 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If
9 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only
10 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document shall
11 be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety
12 should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible.
13
14 2. DEFINITIONS
15 2.1 Action: ARMLA One, Inc., et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., Case No.
16 2:20-CV-07965-SB-RAO.
17 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation
18 of information or items under this Order.
19 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
20 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for
21 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the
22 Good Cause Statement.
23 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
24 their support staff).
25 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
26 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
27 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
1 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
2 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
3 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or
4 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
5 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
6 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
7 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
8 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
9 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
10 counsel.
11 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or
12 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
13 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
14 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
15 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that
16 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
17 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
18 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
19 support staffs).
20 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
21 Discovery Material in this Action.
22 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
23 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
24 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
25 and their employees and subcontractors.
26 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
27 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
1 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
2 from a Producing Party.
3
4 3. SCOPE
5 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
6 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or
7 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
8 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
9 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
10 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
11 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
12
13 4. DURATION
14 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as
15 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced
16 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all
17 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by
18 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance
19 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause”
20 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons”
21 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the
22 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
23
24 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
25 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
26 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
27 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
1 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
2 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items
3 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably
4 within the ambit of this Order.
5 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
6 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
7 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
8 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating
9 Party to sanctions.
10 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
11 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
12 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
13 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
14 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
15 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
16 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
17 produced.
18 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
19 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents,
20 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the
21 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter
22 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a
23 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also
24 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings
25 in the margins).
26 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
27 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
1 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be
2 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents
3 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents,
4 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing
5 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL
6 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the
7 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly
8 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
9 margins).
10 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the
11 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all
12 protected testimony.
13 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for
14 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the
15 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
16 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
17 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
18 portion(s).
19 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
20 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the
21 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
22 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
23 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
24 Order.
25 ///
26 ///
27 ///
1 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
2 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
3 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
4 Scheduling Order.
5 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
6 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1, et seq.
7 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on
8 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose
9 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may
10 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived
11 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all Parties shall continue to afford the
12 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
13 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
14
15 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
16 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
17 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
18 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
19 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
20 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a
21 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL
22 DISPOSITION).
23 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
24 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
25 authorized under this Order.
26 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
27 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
1 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
2 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
3 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as
4 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to
5 disclose the information for this Action;
6 (b) the owners, officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel)
7 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
8 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
9 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
10 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
11 (d) the court and its personnel;
12 (e) court reporters and their staff;
13 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
14 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
15 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
16 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
17 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
18 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the
19 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party
20 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will
21 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
22 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
23 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed
24 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
25 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as
26 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
27 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually
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
4 that 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 shall
7 include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to
9 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena
10 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of
11 this Stipulated Protective Order; and
12 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued
13 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
14 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with
15 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this
16 action 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 to
21 disobey a lawful directive from another court.
22
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 Non-
26 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information
27 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the
1 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be
2 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
3 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to
4 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is
5 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s
6 confidential information, then the Party shall:
7 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party
8 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality
9 agreement with a Non-Party;
10 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated
11 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a
12 reasonably specific description of the information requested; and
13 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-
14 Party, if requested.
15 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14
16 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may
17 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request.
18 If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not
19 produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the
20 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
21 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense
22 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.
23
24 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
25 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
26 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
27 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
1 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
2 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
3 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
4 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
5
6 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
7 PROTECTED MATERIAL
8 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
9 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
10 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
11 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
12 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
13 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
14 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
15 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
16 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to
17 the court.
18
19 12. MISCELLANEOUS
20 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
21 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
22 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
23 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
24 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
25 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
26 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
27 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
1 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
2 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material
3 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in
4 the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
5
6 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
7 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60
8 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return
9 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in
10 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,
11 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
12 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving
13 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same
14 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies
15 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
16 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,
17 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any
18 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to
19 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
20 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
21 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such
22 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
23 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
24 Section 4 (DURATION).
25 ///
26 ///
27 ///
1 |}14. VIOLATION
2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures
3 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
4
5 IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
6
7
8 |} DATED 3/7/2021 /s/ Christian Kernkamp
9 Christian Kernkamp
Chad E. DeVeaux
10 Attorneys for Plaintiffs ARMLA One, Inc.,
AMRLA Two, Inc., and Gompers SocEgq, Inc.
11
12
13
14 |} DATED 3/8/2021 /s/ Emily Wada
15 Michael N. Feuer
David J. Michaelson
16 Emily Y. Wada
Kabir Chopra
17 Attorneys for Defendants City of Los Angeles,
Los Angeles Department of Cannabis
18 Regulation, and Cat Packer
19
20
FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

22 . .
23 Rapeliis, A. OL
DATED March 12, 2021
HON. ROZELLA A. OLIVER
25 United States Magistrate Judge
26
27
28

1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of
5 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 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 ___________ [insert formal name of the case and the number
8
and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with and to be bound by
9
all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge
10
that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature
11
of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any
12
information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or
13
entity except in strict 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 enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective
16 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I
17 hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of
18 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and
19 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with
20 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective
21 Order.
22 Date: ______________________________________
23 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________

24
Printed name: _______________________________
25

26
Signature: __________________________________
27

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10040383. Public record. Not legal advice.