Santiago Lim v.Transforce, Inc.

1 JNoasthhuaan KBo. nPeicllkeyr ,S SBBNN 3 10802586997

2 Sarah McCracken, SBN 313198

SCHNEIDER WALLACE

3 COTTRELL KONECKY LLP

2000 Powell Street, Suite 1400

4 Emeryville, CA 94608

Telephone: (415) 421-7100

5 Facsimile: (415) 421-7105

jkonecky@schneiderwallace.com

6 npiller@schneiderwallace.com

smccracken@schneiderwallace.com

7 Attorneys for Plaintiff Santiago Lim

8 MARRON LAWYERS APC

Paul J. Marron (SBN 128245)

9 Steven C. Rice (SBN 109659)

Alexander T. Marx (SBN 295624)

10 5000 E. Spring St., Suite 580

Long Beach, CA 90815

11 (562) 432-7422 Telephone

(562) 683-2721 Facsimile

12 pmarron@marronlaw.com

parenas@marronlaw.com

13 amarx@marronlaw.com

14 Attorneys for Defendants TForce Final

Mile West, LLC and TForce Logistics, LLC

15

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

16

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA – WESTERN DIVISION

17

18 SANTIAGO LIM individually and on CASE NO. 19-cv-04390-JAK-AGR

behalf of all others similarly situated,

19 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

Plaintiffs,

20 v. Complaint filed: February 21, 2019

21 TFORCE LOGISTICS, LLC,

TFORCE FINAL MILE WEST, LLC;

22

and DOES 1-10, inclusive,

23

Defendants.

24

25 Plaintiff Santiago Lim (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants TForce Logistics, LLC and

26 TForce Final Mile West, LLC (“Defendants”) (collectively, the “Parties”) through

27 their respective undersigned counsel, hereby respectfully submit the following

28 Stipulated Protective Order.

1 I. Purposes and Limitations

2 Defendants represent that discovery in this action is likely to involve

3 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special

4 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than

5 prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby

6 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective

7 Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket

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

9 affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information

10 or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal

11 principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below,

12 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential

13 information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must

14 be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission

15 from the court to file material under seal.

16 II. Good Cause Statement

17 Defendants represent that the action is likely to involve trade secrets, private

18 financial information, and other valuable research, development, commercial,

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

20 from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of

21 this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and

22 information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial

23 information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other

24 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including

25 information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise

26 generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise

27 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case

28 decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to

1 facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery

2 materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep

3 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses

4 of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their

5 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective

6 order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties

7 that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and

8 that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been

9 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it

10 should not be part of the public record of this case.

11 III. Definitions

12 a. Action: Santiago Lim v. Transforce, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-

13 04390-JAK-AGR.

14 b. Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the

15 designation of information or items under this Order.

16 c. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of

17 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that

18 qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and

19 as specified above in the Good Cause Statement.

20 d. Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as

21 their support staff).

22 e. Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or

23 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as

24 “CONFIDENTIAL.”

25 f. Disclosures or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless

26 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained

27 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible

28

1 things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to

2 discovery in this matter.

3 g. Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

4 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its

5 counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

6 h. House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.

7 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any

8 other outside counsel.

9 i. Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association,

10 or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.

11 j. Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party

12 to this action but are retained to represent or advise a Party to this

13 Action and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that Party or are

14 affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that Party,

15 and includes support staff.

16 k. Party: any Party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

17 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of

18 Record (and their support staffs).

19 l. Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

20 Discovery Material in this Action.

21 m. Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation

22 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating,

23 preparing exhibits, or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or

24 retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and

25 subcontractors.

26 n. Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is

27

designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

28

1 o. Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery

2 Material from a Producing Party.

3 IV. Scope

4 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only

5 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or

6 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or

7 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or

8 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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

10 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.

11 V. Duration

12 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations

13 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees

14 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be

15 deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this

16 Action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the

17 completion and exhaustion of all appeals, re-hearings, remands, trials, or reviews

18 of this Action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for

19 extension of time pursuant to applicable law.

20 In the event the case proceeds to trial, the foregoing paragraph is modified as

21 follows: Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated

22 as confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order which are admitted

23 into evidence at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all

24 members of the public, including the press, unless the designating party makes a

25 timely motion to the trial judge that shows compelling reasons supported by

26 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise. See Kamakana v. City and County

27 of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause”

28 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons”

1 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly,

2 in the event this case proceeds to trial, the terms of this protective order do

3 not extend beyond the commencement of the trial, except to the extent modified

4 pursuant to motion by the designating party.

5 VI. Designating Protected Material

6 a. Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection

7 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection

8 under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material

9 that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must

10 designate for protection only those parts of the material, documents, items, or oral

11 or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material,

12 documents, items, or written or recorded communications for which protection is

13 not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 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

17 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the

18 Designating Party 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

21 must

22 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable

23 designation.

24 b. Manner and Timing of Designations

25 Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of

26 section VI.b(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or

27 Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly

28 so designated before the material is disclosed or produced.

1 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

3 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that

4 the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL”

5 (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected

6 material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for

7 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s)

8 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).

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

10 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has

11 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the

12 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for

13 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party

14 has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party

15 must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under

16 this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party

17 must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected

18 Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for

19 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s)

20 (e.g., by making appropriate

21 markings in the margins).

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

23 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has

24 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the

25 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for

26 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has

27 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must

28 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this

1 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must

2 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected

3 Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for

4 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s)

5 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).

6 (b) for testimony given in depositions, that the Designating Party identify the

7 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition

8 all protected testimony.

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

10 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on

11 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the

12 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information

13 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify

14 the protected portion(s).

15 c. Inadvertent Failures to Designate.

16 If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate qualified information

17 or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure

18 protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a

19 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the

20 material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

21 VII. Challenging Confidentiality Designations

22 a. Timing of Challenges.

23 Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of confidentiality at any

24 time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order.

25 b. Meet and Confer.

26 The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process under Local

27 Rule 37.1 et seq. and/or the assigned Magistrate Judge’s Procedures for resolving

28 discovery disputes.

1 c. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall

2 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for

3 an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses

4 and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to

5 sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the

6 confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the

7 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under

8 the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the

9 challenge.

10 VIII. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

11 a. Basic Principles.

12 A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or produced by

13 another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for

14 prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected

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

16 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a

17 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section XIV below (FINAL

18 DISPOSITION).

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

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

21 authorized under this Order.

22 b. Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items.

23 Unless otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the

24 Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information or item

25 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

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

27 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably

28 necessary

1 to disclose the information for this Action;

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

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

4 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party, and others

5 working with and at the direction of Experts, to whom disclosure is reasonably

6 necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and

7 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

8 (d) the court and its personnel;

9 (e) court reporters and their staff;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2)

18 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign

19 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless

20 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of

21 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected

22 Material should be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be

23 disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order;

24 and

25 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually

26 agreed upon by any of the Parties engaged in settlement discussions.

27 IX. Protected Material Subpoenaed or Order Produced in Other Litigation

28

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

2 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action

3 as CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

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

5 include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

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

7 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the

8 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall

9 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and

10 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by

11 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.

12 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with

13 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this

14 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the

15 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s

16 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking

17 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions

18 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this

19 Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court.

20 X. Non-Party’s Protected Material Sought to be Produced in this Litigation

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

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

23 information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected

24 by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions

25 should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional

26 protections.

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

28 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party

1 is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s

2 confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

4 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement

5 with a Non-Party;

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

7 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific

8 description of the information requested; and

9 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-

10 Party, if requested.

11 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14

12 days of completion of steps X.(b)(1) and X.(b)(2), the notice and accompanying

13 information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential

14 information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a

15 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its

16 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the

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

18 contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection

19 in this court of its Protected Material.

20 XI. Unauthorized Disclosure of Protected Material

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

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

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

24 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best

25 efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the

26 person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of

27 this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the

28

1 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit

2 A.

3 XII. Inadvertent Production of Privileged or Otherwise Protected Material

4 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain

5 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other

6 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal

7 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify

8 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides

9 for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of

10 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of

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

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

13 in the Stipulated Protective Order submitted to the court.

14 XIII. Miscellaneous

15 a. Right to Further Relief

16 Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its modification

17 by the court in the future.

18 b. Right to Assert Other Objections

19 By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order no Party waives any right it

20 otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or

21 item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly,

22 no Party waives any right to object on any ground to the use in evidence of any of

23 the material covered by this Protective Order.

24 A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with

25 Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant

26 to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue.

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

28

1 then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless

2 otherwise instructed by the court.

3 XIV. Final Disposition

4 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60

5 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must

6 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material.

7 As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts,

8 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of

9 the

10 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the

11 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if

12 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline

13 that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that

14 was returned or destroyed and (2)affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained

15 any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or

16 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel

17 are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial,

18 deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition

19 and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert

20 work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such

21 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this

22 Protective Order as set forth in Section V (DURATION).

23 XV. Enforcement.

24 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate

25 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary

26 sanctions.

27 / / /

28 XVI. / / /

1 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

2 Respectfully submitted,

3 DATED: October 26, 2021

4 SCHNEIDER WALLACE COTTRELL

5 KONECKY LLP

7 By: /s/ Joshua Konecky

8 ||DATED: October 26, 2021 MARRON LAWYERS APC

10 By: Steven C. Rice

11

ATTESTATION

12

The e-filing attorney hereby attests that concurrence in the filing of the document

13

has been obtained from each of the other signatories indicated by a conformed

14

signature (/s/) within this e-filed document.

15

16 || DATED: October 26, 2021 By: /s/ Joshua Konecky

Joshua Konecky

17 Attorneys for Plaintiff Santiago Lim

18

19 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

20

1 DATED:_November 8, 2021

22

33 Wiias fh Keeunding,

24 Alicia G. Rosenberg

25 United States Magistrate Judge

26

27

28

-_14_

1

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

3 I, ____________________________________ [print or type full name], of

4 ______________________________________ [print or type full address], declare

5 under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the

6 confidentiality and non-disclosure obligations of the Stipulated

7 Protective Order that the Court approved on __________ ___, 2021 in the case of

8 Santiago Lim v. Transforce, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-04390-JAK-AGR. I

9 agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective

10 Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me

11 to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I

12 will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this

13 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with

14 the provisions of this Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the

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

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

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

18 ________________________________ [print full name], who may be contacted at

19 ______________________________________ [full address] and by telephone at:

20 __________________________ [telephone number] as my California agent for

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

22 enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.

23 Date: _______________________

24 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________

25 Printed name: ______________________________________________

26

Signature: ____________________________________

27

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