distinguishing “good cause” 5 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 6 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record
How later courts described this case
- distinguishing “good cause” 5 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 6 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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12 BERESFORD TREVOR WALL, Case No. 8:24-cv-01680-JWH-KESx
13 Plaintiff,
14 vs.
15 EXPERIAN INFORMATION STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
SOLUTIONS, INC., DISCOVER ORDER
16 BANK and DOES 1-25, inclusive,
17 Defendant.
18
19 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
20 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
21 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public
22 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be
23 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter
24 the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order
25 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and
26 that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the
27 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the
28 applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section
1 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file
2 confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures
3 that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks
4 permission from the court to file material under seal.
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6 A. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
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8 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and
9 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or
10 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and from
11 use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such
12 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other
13 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding
14 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or
15 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third
16 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be
17 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court
18 rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of
19 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of
20 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep
21 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such
22 material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the
23 end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such
24 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information
25 will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so
26 designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential,
27 non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public
28 record of this case.
1 2. DEFINITIONS
2 2.1 Action: Wall v. Discover Bank, Inc., No. 8:24-CV-01680-JWH-KESx.
3 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation
4 of information or items under this Order.
5 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
6 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection
7 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good
8 Cause Statement.
9 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
10 their support staff).
11 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
12 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
13 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless
15 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
16 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or
17 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
18 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
19 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
20 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
21 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
22 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
23 counsel.
24 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
25 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
26 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
27 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
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1 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which
2 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
3 2.11 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 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
7 Discovery Material in this Action.
8 2.13 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 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
13 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
15 from a Producing Party.
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17 3. SCOPE
18 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
19 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or
20 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
21 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
22 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
23 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
24 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
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26 4. DURATION
27 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as
28 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will
1 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless
2 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are
3 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of
4 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause”
5 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons”
6 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the
7 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
8 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations
9 imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees
10 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be
11 deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with
12 or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and
13 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action,
14 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time
15 pursuant to applicable law.
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17 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
18 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
19 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
20 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
21 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
22 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
23 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items,
24 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably
25 within the ambit of this Order.
26 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
27 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
28 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
1 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating
2 Party to sanctions.
3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
5 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
7 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
8 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
9 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
10 produced.
11 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
12 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
13 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
14 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
15 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
16 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
17 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
18 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
19 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
20 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
21 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and
22 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be
23 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents
24 it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents,
25 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing
26 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL
27 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions
28 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must
1 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
2 margins).
3 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party
4 identify the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the
5 deposition all protected testimony. Transcripts will be treated, in their entirety, as if
6 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS
7 EYES ONLY” until the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date on which the
8 transcripts were received from the stenographer.
9 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary
10 and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place
11 on 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 warrants
13 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
14 portion(s).
15 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
16 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
17 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
18 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
19 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
20 Order.
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22 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
23 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
24 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
25 Scheduling Order.
26 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
27 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.
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1 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on
2 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose
3 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may
4 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived
5 or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the
6 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
7 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
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9 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
10 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
11 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
12 Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
13 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
14 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving
15 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).
16 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
17 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
18 authorized under this Order.
19 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
20 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
21 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
22 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
23 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action,
24 as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
25 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
26 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel)
27 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
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1 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
2 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
4 (d) the court and its personnel;
5 (e) court reporters and their staff;
6 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and
7 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and
8 who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
9 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information
10 or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
11 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for witnesses,
12 in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing
13 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) they
14 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
16 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed
17 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
18 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as
19 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
20 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting
21 personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement
22 discussions.
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1 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED
2 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
7 notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or
9 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the
10 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include
11 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
12 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be
13 pursued 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
21 to disobey a lawful directive from another court.
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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
26 by a Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such
27 information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected
28 by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should
1 be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
2 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request,
3 to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is
4 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s
5 confidential information, then the Party shall:
6 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the
7 Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality
8 agreement with a Non-Party;
9 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the
10 Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a
11 reasonably specific description of the information requested; and
12 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by
13 the Non-Party, if requested.
14 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court
15 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving
16 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the
17 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving
18 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to
19 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
20 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense
21 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.
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23 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
24 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
25 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
26 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
27 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
28 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
1 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
2 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
3 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
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5 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
6 PROTECTED MATERIAL
7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
8 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
9 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
10 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
11 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
12 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
13 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
14 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
15 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted
16 to the court.
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18 12. MISCELLANEOUS
19 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
20 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
21 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
22 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
23 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
24 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
25 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
26 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
27 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may
28 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
1 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material
2 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information
3 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
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5 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
6 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60
7 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return
8 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this
9 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,
10 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
11 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving
12 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same
13 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies
14 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
15 destroyed and (2)affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,
16 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any
17 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to
18 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
19 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
20 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such
21 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
22 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
23 Section 4 (DURATION).
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1 || 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate
2 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary
3 || sanctions.
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5 || ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
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7 || DATED: February 5, 2025
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9 || BAF. Jay Rahimi
F. Jay Rahimi, Esq.
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12 || DATED: February 5, 2025
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14 || 2/Arjun P. Rao
Arjun P. Rao
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17 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
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19 || DATED: February 7, 2025
| Tous E. Seatts
21 || Honorable Karen E. Scott
United States Magistrate Judge
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14 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
1 EXHIB IT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3 I, [print or type full name], of
4 [print or type full
5 address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and
6 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States
7 District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the case
8 of [insert formal name of the case and the
9 number and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with and to be
10 bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and
11 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment
12 in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner
13 any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any
14 person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
16 Central District of California for the purpose of 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
19 full name] of [print
20 or type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of
21 process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of
22 this Stipulated Protective Order.
23 Date:
24 City and State where sworn and signed:
25
26 Printed name:
27
28 Signature: