even stipulated protective orders 9 require good cause showing
How later courts described this case
- even stipulated protective orders 9 require good cause showing
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
1
Brent H. Blakely (SBN 157292)
2 bblakely@blakelylawgroup.com
Tara A. Currie (SBN 323984)
3 tcurrie@blakelylawgroup.com
BLAKELY LAW GROUP
4 1108 Manhattan Avenue, Suite B
Manhattan Beach, California 90266
5 Telephone: (310) 546-7400
Facsimile: (310) 546-7401
6
Attorneys for Plaintiff
7 Chrome Hearts LLC
8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10
CHROME HEARTS LLC, a
11 Delaware Limited Liability Company, Case No. 2:24-cv-04239-MWC-RAO
12
Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
13 ORDER1
v.
14
PIXELS.COM LLC dba FINE ART
15 AMERICA, an Illinois Limited
Liability Company; and DOES 1-10,
16 inclusive,
17
Defendant.
18
1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
19
Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
20
proprietary or private information for which special protection from public
21
disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may
22
be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to
23
enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this
24
Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to
25
discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends
26
27
1 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment
2 under the applicable legal principles.
3 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
4 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and
5 other valuable commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for
6 which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other
7 than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary
8 materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or
9 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other
10 confidential or commercial information (including information implicating privacy
11 rights of third parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or
12 which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or
13 federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law.
14 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 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER SEAL
25 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, 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 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court
2 to file material under seal.
3 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial
4 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions,
5 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and
6 County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006); Phillips v. Gen. Motors
7 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002); Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics,
8 Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders
9 require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling
10 reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with
11 respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere
12 designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—
13 without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the
14 material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or
15 otherwise protectable—constitute good cause.
16 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then
17 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the
18 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected.
19 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For
20 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced
21 under seal in connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking
22 protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal
23 justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting
24 the application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration.
25 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in
26 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted.
27 If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting
1 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their
2 entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible.
3 2. DEFINITIONS
4 2.1 Action: The instant action: Chrome Hearts LLC v. Pixels.com LLC, et
5 al., Case No. 2:24-cv-04239-MWC-RAO
6 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the
7 designation of information or items under this Order.
8 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
9 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for
10 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in
11 the Good Cause Statement.
12 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
13 their support staff).
14 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
15 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
16 “CONFIDENTIAL”
17 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless
18 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
19 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or
20 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
21 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
22 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
23 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
24 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
25 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
26 counsel.
27 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or
1 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a
2 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and
3 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm
4 that has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
5 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
6 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
7 support staffs).
8 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
9 Discovery Material in this Action.
10 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation
11 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
12 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
13 and their employees and subcontractors.
14 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
15 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
16 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery
17 Material from a Producing Party.
18 3. SCOPE
19 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
20 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or
21 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
22 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
23 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
24 Any use of Protected Material during a court hearing or at trial shall be
25 governed by the orders of the trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of
26 Protected Material during a court hearing or at trial.
27 4. DURATION
1 imposed by this Order will remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees
2 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition will be
3 deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with
4 or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and
5 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action,
6 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time
7 pursuant to applicable law.
8 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
9 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
10 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
11 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
12 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
13 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written
14 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items
15 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably
16 within the ambit of this Order.
17 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
18 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
19 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
20 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating
21 Party to sanctions.
22 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
23 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
24 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
25 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
26 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
27 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
1 produced.
2 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
3 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
4 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
5 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend
6 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
7 contains 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 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
11 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
12 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and
13 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be
14 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the
15 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which
16 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then,
17 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the
18 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a
19 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also
20 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings
21 in the margins).
22 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies
23 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the
24 deposition all protected testimony.
25 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and
26 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on
27 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the
1 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
2 portion(s).
3 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
4 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
5 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.
6 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
7 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
8 Order.
9 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
10 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
11 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
12 Scheduling Order.
13 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
14 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.
15 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on
16 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper
17 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other
18 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating
19 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall
20 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is
21 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the
22 challenge.
23 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
24 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
25 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
26 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such
27 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
1 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL
2 DISPOSITION).
3 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
4 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
5 authorized under this Order.
6 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
7 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
8 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
9 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
10 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as
11 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
12 necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
13 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of
14 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
15 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
16 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
17 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
18 (d) the court and its personnel;
19 (e) court reporters and their staff;
20 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
21 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
22 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
23 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
24 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
25 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the
26 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party
27 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they
1 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
2 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed
3 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may
4 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except
5 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
6 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
7 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
8 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED
9 IN OTHER LITIGATION
10 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation
11 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
12 “CONFIDENTIAL” that Party must:
13 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification
14 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
15 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order
16 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the
17 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include
18 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
19 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be
20 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
21 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with
22 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this
23 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the
24 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s
25 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking
26 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions
27 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action
1
2 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
3 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
4 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a
5 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” Such information
6 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the
7 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be
8 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
9 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to
10 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is
11 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s
12 confidential information, then the Party shall:
13 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party
14 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality
15 agreement with a Non-Party;
16 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated
17 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably
18 specific description of the information requested; and
19 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the
20 Non-Party, if requested.
21 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within
22 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party
23 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery
24 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall
25 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the
26 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
27 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and
1
2 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
3 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
4 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
5 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
6 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
7 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or
8 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
9 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
10 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
11 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
12 PROTECTED MATERIAL
13 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
14 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
15 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
16 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever
17 procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production
18 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and
19 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a
20 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work
21 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated
22 protective order submitted to the court.
23 12. MISCELLANEOUS
24 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
25 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
26 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
27 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
1 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
2 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
3 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
4 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material
5 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
6 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material
7 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information
8 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
9 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60
11 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return
12 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in
13 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,
14 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
15 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving
16 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same
17 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies
18 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
19 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies,
20 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any
21 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to
22 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
23 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
24 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such
25 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
26 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
27 Section 4 (DURATION).
1 14. VIOLATION
2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including,
3 without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
4 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
5
6 BLAKELY LAW GROUP
7
Dated: June 5, 2025 __/s/ Tara A. Currie___________
8
Brent H. Blakely
9 Tara A. Currie
Attorneys for Plaintiff
10 Chrome Hearts LLC
11 MCBRAYER, PLLC
12
Dated: June 5, 2025 _/s/ Bruce B. Paul_
13 Bruce B. Paul
Mari-Elise Paul
14 Attorneys for Defendant
Pixels.com LLC
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1 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
2
3 || DATED: 6/6/2025,
4 *
Raye OQ, OC
6 |] United States Magisirate Judge
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1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of
5 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury
6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that
7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California
8 on ___________[date] in the case of Chrome Hearts LLC v. Pixels.com LLC, et al.,
9 Case No. 2:24-cv-04239-MWC-RAO. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all
10 the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that
11 failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of
12 contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any
13 information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person
14 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 enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective
17 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action.
18 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of
19 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and
20 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with
21 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective
22 Order.
23 Date: ______________________________________
24 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________
25
26 Printed name: _______________________________
27