Wendy Winslow v. Target Corporation

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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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11 WENDY WINSLOW, an Individual, Case No.: 8:24-cv-02300-JWH-JDE

12 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE

Plaintiff, ORDER

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v.

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TARGET CORPORATION,

15 VELOCITY PHARMA LLC,

KILITCH HEALTHCARE INDIA

16 LIMITED, and DOES 1-20, inclusive,

17 Defendants.

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19 Based on the parties’ Stipulation and for good cause shown, the Court finds

20 and orders as follows.

21 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

22 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,

23 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public

24 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be

25 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to

26 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this

27 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to

1 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment

2 under the applicable legal principles.

3 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

4 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, commercial, financial, technical,

5 personal health and/or proprietary information for which special protection from

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

7 is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of,

8 among other things, confidential business or financial information, information

9 regarding confidential business practices, or other confidential research,

10 development, personal health or commercial information (including information

11 implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise generally

12 unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from

13 disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common

14 law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt

15 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately

16 protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the

17 parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for

18 and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and

19 serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this

20 matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as

21 confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good

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

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

24 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE

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

26 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information

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

1 to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right

2 of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-

3 dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See

4 Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006),

5 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-

6 Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even

7 stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of

8 good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal

9 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to

10 file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as

11 CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by

12 declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as

13 confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause.

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

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

16 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected.

17 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For

18 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced

19 under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons,

20 supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order.

21 Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal

22 must be provided by declaration.

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

24 entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If

25 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting

26 only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document,

27 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their

1 4. DEFINITIONS

2 4.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit, WENDY WINSLOW v. TARGET

3 CORPORATION, ET AL.

4 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the

5 designation of information or items under this Order.

6 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of

7 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for

8 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in

9 the Good Cause Statement.

10 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as

11 their support staff).

12 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or

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

14 “CONFIDENTIAL.”

15 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless

16 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,

17 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or

18 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.

19 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

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

21 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

22 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.

23 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside

24 counsel.

25 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or

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

27 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party

1 in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has

2 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.

3 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

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

5 support staffs).

6 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

7 Discovery Material in this Action.

8 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support

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

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

11 and their employees and subcontractors.

12 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is

13 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

14 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery

15 Material from a Producing Party.

16 5. SCOPE

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

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

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

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

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

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

23 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of

24 Protected Material at trial.

25 6. DURATION

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

27 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced

1 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by

2 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance

3 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause”

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

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

6 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.

7 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

8 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for

9 Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or

10 items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to

11 specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating

12 Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items or

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

14 documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not

15 swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.

16 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations

17 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper

18 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose

19 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating

20 Party to sanctions.

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

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

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

24 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in

25 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material

26 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before

27 the material is disclosed or produced.

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

2 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial

3 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend

4 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that

5 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for

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

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

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

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

10 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and

11 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be

12 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the

13 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which

14 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before

15 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the

16 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a

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

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

19 in the margins).

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

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

22 deposition all protected testimony.

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

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

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

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

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

1 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent

2 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive

3 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.

4 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable

5 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this

6 Order.

7 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

8 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a

9 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s

10 Scheduling Order.

11 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute

12 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq.

13 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint

14 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2.

15 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the

16 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose

17 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may

18 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived

19 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the

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

21 Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.

22 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

23 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is

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

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

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

27 conditions described in this Order. Upon termination of the Action, a Receiving

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

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

3 authorized under this Order.

4 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless

5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a

6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated

7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

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

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

10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;

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

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

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

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

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

16 (d) the court and its personnel;

17 (e) court reporters and their staff;

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

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

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

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

22 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;

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

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

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

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

27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise

1 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may

2 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except

3 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and

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

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

6 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED

7 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION

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

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

10 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

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

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

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

14 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the

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

16 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and

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

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

19 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the

20 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action

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

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

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

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

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

26 to disobey a lawful directive from another court.

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

2 BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION

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

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

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

6 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be

7 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.

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

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

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

11 confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

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

14 agreement with a Non-Party;

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

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

17 specific description of the information requested; and

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

19 Party, if requested.

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

21 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving

22 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the

23 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving

24 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to

25 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the

26 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and

27 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.

1 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

6 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or

7 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,

8 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an

9 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A.

10 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR

11 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

13 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,

14 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\

15 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure

16 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without

17 prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar

18 as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or

19 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the

20 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted

21 to the court.

22 14. MISCELLANEOUS

23 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any

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

25 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this

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

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

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

2 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any

3 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may

4 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the

5 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal

6 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the

7 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.

8 15. FINAL DISPOSITION

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

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

11 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in

12 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,

13 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected

14 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving

15 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same

16 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies

17 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or

18 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,

19 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any

20 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to

21 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing

22 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert

23 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such

24 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or

25 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in

26 Section 6 (DURATION).

27 16. VIOLATION

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

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3 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

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5 || DATED: ——_—_sJanuary 28,2025

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JOHN D. EARLY

9 ted States Magistrate Judge

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1 EXHIBIT A

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

3 I, _____________________________, of __________________

4 [COPMANY NAME], ______________________ [ADDRESS], declare under

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

6 Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central

7 District of California on January 28, 2025, in the case of WENDY WINSLOW v.

8 TARGET CORPORATION, et al, Case No.: 8:24-cv-02300-JWH-JDE. I agree to

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

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

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

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

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

14 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 enforcing the terms of this Stipulated

17 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of

18 this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full

19 name] of _______________________________________ [print or type full address

20 and 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 sworn and signed: ___________________

25 Printed name: _______________________________

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27 Signature: __________________________________