even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing
How later courts described this case
- even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
1 David J. Weiss, Esq., SBN 78542
Nicholas A. Weiss, Esq., SBN 260606
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DAVID WEISS LAW
3 3019 Ocean Park Blvd #392
Santa Monica, CA 90405
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Phone: (310) 575-9566
5 Fax: (310) 575-9576
weissn@djwlaw.com
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7 Attorneys for Defendants,
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES and LOS
8
ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S
9 DEPARTMENT
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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KIMBERLY FREEMAN, individually ,CASE NO. 2:24-cv-01600 MWF(AJRx)
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and as the personal representative of
14 TRAVIS CULVER FREEMAN,
deceased; KENT FREEMAN, [PROPOSED]
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individually and as the personal PROTECTIVE ORDER
16 representative of TRAVIS CULVER
FREEMAN, deceased,
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Plaintiffs,
18 v. Complaint Filed:
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February 27, 2024
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, LOS
20 ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S
DEPARTMENT, and DOES 1 TO 10,
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22 Defendants.
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1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public
4 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be
5 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to
6 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this
7 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to
8 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends
9 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment
10 under the applicable legal principles.
11 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
12 Good cause exists for entry of this stipulated protective order because
13 discovery exchanged in this action is likely to contain documents with information
14 that could infringe on the privacy rights of third parties, including County
15 employees and other inmates at Men’s Central Jail who are not parties in this
16 matter. Gov. Code § 6254(c) exempts from inspection of public records
17 “personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which constitute
18 unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” 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
21 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary
22 uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their
23 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective
24 order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties
25 that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that
26 nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in
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1 a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be
2 part of the public record of this case.
3 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE
4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that
5 this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential
6 information under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must
7 be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission
8 from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the
9 public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In
10 connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a
11 filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172,
12 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th
13 Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis.
14 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a
15 specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary
16 support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material
17 that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or
18 Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of
19 competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be
20 filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—
21 constitute good cause.
22 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial,
23 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and
24 the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be
25 protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir.
26 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed
27 or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling
1 reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested
2 sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file
3 documents under seal must be provided by declaration.
4 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable
5 in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be
6 redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public
7 viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable
8 portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file
9 documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of
10 why redaction is not feasible.
11 4. DEFINITIONS
12 4.1 This federal lawsuit entitled Kimberly Freeman et al. vs. County of
13 Los Angeles et al. (Case No. 2:24-cv-01600 MWF) involves federal and state law
14 causes of action arising from County Defendants’ alleged failure to provide
15 Decedent Travis Freeman with adequate medical care, supervision and monitoring
16 during his detention at Los Angeles’ County’s Men’s Central Jail.
17 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation
18 of information or items under this Order.
19 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
20 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for
21 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in
22 the Good Cause Statement.
23 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
24 their support staff).
25 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
26 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery
27 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
1 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
2 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
3 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced
4 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.
5 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
6 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve
7 as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
8 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
9 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
10 counsel.
11 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or
12 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
13 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
14 to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared
15 in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has
16 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
17 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
18 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
19 support staffs).
20 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
21 Discovery Material in this Action.
22 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
23 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
24 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
25 and their employees and subcontractors.
26 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
27 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
1 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
2 from a Producing Party.
3 5. 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 and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of
11 Protected Material at trial.
12 6. DURATION
13 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as
14 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or
15 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively
16 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling
17 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the
18 trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81
19 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in
20 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are
21 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend
22 beyond the commencement of the trial.
23 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
24 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
25 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
26 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
27 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
1 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written
2 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents,
3 items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept
4 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.
5 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
6 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
7 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to
8 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the
9 Designating Party to sanctions.
10 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
11 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
12 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
13 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
14 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material
15 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before
16 the material is disclosed or produced.
17 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
18 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
19 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
20 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
21 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
22 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for
23 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s)
24 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
25 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
26 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
27 which documents it would like copied and produced.
1 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made
2 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting
3 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing
4 Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection
5 under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing
6 Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains
7 Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for
8 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s)
9 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
10 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies
11 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the
12 deposition all protected testimony.
13 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for
14 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the
15 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
16 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
17 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the
18 protected portion(s).
19 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
20 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
21 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such
22 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make
23 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the
24 provisions of this Order.
25 ///
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1 ORDER
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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DATED: _2_/2_0_/2_0_2_5______ ___________________________________
5 HON. A. JOEL RICHLIN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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