# Ruben Briseno v. City of West Covina

> District Court, C.D. California · April 21, 2021

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10040726

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, C.D. California
- **Decided:** April 21, 2021
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

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9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION
11
12 | RUBEN BRISENO, an individual, Case No. 2:20-cv-02986-MRW
13 Plaintiff, Honorable Michael R. Wilner
14 Roybal Federal Building
V.
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
15 | CITY OF WEST COVINA, a municipal | | ORDER
entity; IAN PAPARRO, individually and in
16 | his official capacity as a police officer for | (MRW VERSION 4/19)
the West Covina Police epartiment,
17 | CHRISTOPHER QUEZADA, individually Check if submitted without
and his official capacity as a police officer material modifications to MRW
18 | for the West Covina Police Department; form
ABEL HERNANDEZ, individually and in
19 | his official capacity as a police officer for
the West Covina Police Department; and
20 | DOES 1-50, inclusive, individually and in
their official capacity as police officers for
21 | the West Covina Police Department,
22 Defendants.
23
24/1. INTRODUCTION
25 1.1 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
26 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
27 | proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public
28 | disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be
-l-

1 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter
2 the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order
3 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and
4 that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the
5 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the
6 applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section
7 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file
8 confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures
9 that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks
10 permission from the court to file material under seal.
11 1.2 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
12 The Parties represent that pre-trial discovery in this case may include matters
13 that are confidential and privileged and may require the discovery of and/or
14 production of documents pertaining to the West Covina Police Department’s
15 investigation of the underlying criminal activities, as well as peace officer personnel
16 file information and/or documents which the Parties agree includes: (1) Personal
17 data, including marital status, family members, educational and employment history,
18 home addresses, or similar information; (2) Medical history; (3) Election of
19 employee benefits; (4) Employee advancement, appraisal, or discipline; and (5)
20 Complaints, or investigations of complaints, if any, concerning an event or
21 transaction in which a peace officer participated, or which a peace officer perceived,
22 and pertaining to the manner in which the peace officer performed his or her duties.
23 The Defendants contend that such information is privileged as official information.
24 Sanchez v. City of Santa Ana, 936 F.2d 1027, 1033 (9th Cir. Cal. 1990); see also Kerr
25 v. United States Dist. Ct. for N.D. Cal., 511 F.2d 192, 198 (9th Cir.1975), aff'd, 426
26 U.S. 394, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976). Further, discovery may require
27 depositions, written discovery and/or the production of certain West Covina Police
28 Department Policies and Procedures and peace officer training information the public
1 disclosure of which could comprise officer safety, and/or raise security issues.
2 Additionally, the Defendants contend that that public disclosure of such material and
3 information poses a substantial risk of embarrassment, oppression and/or physical
4 harm to peace officers whose confidential information is disclosed. The Parties
5 further agree that the risk of harm to peace officers is greater than with other
6 government employees due to the nature of their profession. Finally, the Defendants
7 contend that the benefit of public disclosure of confidential information is minimal
8 while the potential disadvantages are great.
9 2. DEFINITIONS
10 2.1 Action: Ruben Briseno v. City of West Covina, Ian Paparro, Christopher
11 Quezada, Abel Hernandez and DOES 1-50.
12 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation
13 of information or items under this Order.
14 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
15 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection
16 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good
17 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.
27 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
28 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
1 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
2 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
3 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
4 counsel.
5 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
6 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
7 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
8 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
9 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which
10 has appeared on behalf of that party and includes support staff.
11 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
12 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
13 support staffs).
14 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
15 Discovery Material in this Action.
16 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
17 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
18 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
19 and their employees and subcontractors.
20 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
21 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
22 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
23 from a Producing Party.
24 3. SCOPE
25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
26 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or
27 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
28 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
1 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
2 Any use of Protected Material at trial will be governed by the orders of the trial
3 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
4 4. DURATION
5 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations
6 imposed by this Order will remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise
7 in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition will be deemed to be
8 the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with or without
9 prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all
10 appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, including the time
11 limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to
12 applicable law.
13 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
14 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
15 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
16 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
17 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
18 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
19 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items,
20 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably
21 within the ambit of this Order.
22 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
23 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
24 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
25 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating
26 Party to sanctions.
27 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
28 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
1 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
2 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
3 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
4 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
5 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
6 produced.
7 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
8 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
9 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
10 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
11 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
12 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
13 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
14 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
15 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for
16 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has
17 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection
18 and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection will be
19 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the
20 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which
21 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before
22 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the
23 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a
24 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing
25 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate
26 markings in the margins).
27 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party
28 identify the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the
1 deposition all protected testimony.
2 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and
3 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on
4 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the
5 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
6 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, will identify the protected
7 portion(s).
8 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
9 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
10 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
11 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
12 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
13 Order.
14 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
15 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
16 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
17 Scheduling Order.
18 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party will initiate the dispute
19 resolution process (and, if necessary, file a discovery motion) under Local Rule 37.1
20 et seq.
21 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding will be on
22 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose
23 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may
24 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived
25 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties will continue to afford the
26 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
27 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
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1 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
2 7.1 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
4 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
5 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
6 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving
7 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 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 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
12 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
13 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
14 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
15 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as
16 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
17 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
18 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of
19 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
20 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
21 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
22 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
23 (d) the Court and its personnel;
24 (e) court reporters and their staff;
25 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
26 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
27 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
28 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or
1 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
2 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for witnesses, in
3 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing
4 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2)
5 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
6 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
7 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed
8 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
9 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as
10 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
11 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
12 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
13 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED
14 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION
15 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation
16 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
17 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
18 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification
19 will include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
20 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or
21 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the
22 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification will include
23 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
24 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be
25 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
26 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with
27 the subpoena or court order will not produce any information designated in this action
28 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena
1 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission.
2 The Designating Party will bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that
3 court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed
4 as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful
5 directive from another court.
6 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
7 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
8 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-
9 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information
10 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the
11 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be
12 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
13 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to
14 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is
15 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s
16 confidential information, then the Party will:
17 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party
18 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement
19 with a Non-Party;
20 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated
21 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably
22 specific description of the information requested; and
23 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-
24 Party, if requested.
25 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14
26 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may
27 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery
28 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party will
1 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the
2 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
3 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party will bear the burden and expense
4 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.
5 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
6 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
7 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
8 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
9 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
10 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
11 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
12 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
13 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
14 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
15 PROTECTED MATERIAL
16 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
17 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
18 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
19 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
20 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
21 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
22 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
23 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
24 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted
25 to the court.
26 12. MISCELLANEOUS
27 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
28 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
1 12.2 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
5 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
6 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
7 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may
8 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
9 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material
10 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information
11 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
12 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
13 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60
14 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return
15 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in
16 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,
17 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
18 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving
19 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same
20 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies
21 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
22 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,
23 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any
24 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to
25 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
26 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
27 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such
28 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
1 | constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
2 | Section 4 (DURATION).
3 14. Any willful violation of this Order may be punished by civil or criminal
4 | contempt proceedings, financial or evidentiary sanctions, reference to disciplinary
5 | authorities, or other appropriate action at the discretion of the Court.
6 Respectfully Submitted,
7 | Dated: April 20, 2021 JONES & MAYER
8
By: /s/Melissa M. Ballard
9 James R. Touchstone
Melissa M. Ballard
10 Attorneys for Defendants
CITY OF WEST COVINA; IAN
11 PAPARRO; CHRISTOPHER
2 QUEZADA; ABEL HERNANDEZ
13
14 Dated: April 20, 2021 JOHN L BURRIS LAW OFFICES
I5 By: /s/ DeWitt M Lacy
16 DeWitt M Lacy
Attomeys for Plaintiff,
7 RUBEN BRISENO
18
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20 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
21
22
Wel —
94 | Dated: April 21, 2021 “
Honorable Michael R. Wilner
25 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
26
27
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1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
4 I, _____________________________ [full name], of
5 ____________________________ [full address], declare under penalty of perjury
6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that
7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California
8 on [date] in the case of Ruben Briseno v. City of West Covina, et al; Case No. 2:20-
9 cv-02986-MRW. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this
10 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so
11 comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I
12 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item
13 that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in
14 strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court
16 for the Central 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 __________________________ [full
19 name] of _______________________________________ [full address and
20 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection
21 with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated
22 Protective Order.
23 Date: ______________________________________
24 City and State where signed: _________________________________
25
26 Printed name: _______________________________
27
28 Signature: __________________________________

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10040726. Public record. Not legal advice.