# Danine Dean v. City of Los Angeles

> District Court, C.D. California · July 28, 2025

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11110745

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, C.D. California
- **Decided:** July 28, 2025
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

1 IAN WALLACH (SBN 237849)
Law Office of Ian Wallach, P.C.
2 5777 West Century Blvd., Suite 750
Los Angeles, CA 90045
3 Phone No.: (213) 375-0000
Fax No.: (213) 402-5516
4 Email: iwallach@wallachlegal.com
5
Attorney for Plaintiff, DANINE DEAN
6
7 HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, City Attorney
DENISE C. MILLS, Chief Deputy City Attorney (SBN 191992)
8 KATHLEEN KENEALY, Chief Assistant City Attorney (SBN 212289)
CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Assistant City Attorney (SBN 115453)
9 SHANT TASLAKIAN, Deputy City Attorney (SBN 272485)
200 North Main Street, 6th Floor, City Hall East
10
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone No.: (213) 978-8722 | Fax No.: (213) 978-8785
11
Email: Shant.Taslakian@lacity.org
12
Attorneys for Defendants, CITY OF LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES POLICE
13 DEPARTMENT and LAPD DETECTIVE CARLOS CARILLO
14
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
15
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
16
17 DANINE DEAN, CASE NO. 2:25-cv-3525 CV (MBKx)
Honorable Cynthia Valenzuela, Ctrm. 10B
18 Hon. Michael B. Kauffman, Ctrm 550
Plaintiff,
19
20 v. [PROPOSED] STIPULATED
PROTECTIVE ORDER
21 CITY OF LOS ANGELES; LOS
ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
22
(LAPD); et al.,
23
Defendants.
24
25
26
27
1 1. GENERAL
2 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve
3 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special
4 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting
5 this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and
6 petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties
7 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or
8 responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use
9 extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential
10 treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set
11 forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them
12 to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the
13 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party
14 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
15 1.2 Good Cause Statement.
16 WHEREAS Plaintiff is seeking materials and information that Defendant CITY
17 OF LOS ANGELES (“City”) maintains as confidential, including but limited to, video
18 recordings, audio recordings, other confidential information and documents regarding
19 these incident, and other administrative materials and information currently in the
20 possession of the City and which the City believes need special protection from public
21 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation.
22 The City asserts that the confidentiality of the materials and information sought
23 by Plaintiffs is recognized by California and federal law, as evidenced inter alia by
24 California Penal Code section 832.7 and Kerr v. United States Dist. Ct. for N.D. Cal.,
25 511 F.2d 192, 198 (9th Cir. 1975), aff'd, 426 U.S. 394 (1976). The City has not
26 publicly released the materials and information referenced above except under
27 protective order or pursuant to a court order, if at all. Further, the information sought
1 The City contends that absent a protective order delineating the responsibilities of
2 nondisclosure on the part of the parties hereto, there is a specific risk of unnecessary
3 and undue disclosure as well as the corollary risk of embarrassment, harassment and
4 professional and legal harm on the part of the LAPD officers referenced in the materials
5 and information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may
6 be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal
7 statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. The unfettered disclosure
8 of the materials and information, absent a protective order, would allow the media to
9 share this information with potential jurors in the area, impacting the rights of
10 Defendant herein to receive a fair trial.
11 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt
12 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect
13 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are
14 permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the
15 conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends
16 of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the
17 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical
18 reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been
19 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should
20 not be part of the public record of this case.
21 The parties therefore stipulate that there is Good Cause for, and hereby jointly
22 request that the honorable Court issue a Protective Order regarding confidential
23 documents consistent with the terms and provisions of this Stipulation. However, the
24 entry of a Protective Order by the Court pursuant to this Stipulation shall not be
25
construed as any ruling by the Court on the aforementioned legal statements or privilege
26
claims in this section, no shall this section be construed as part of any such Court Order.
27
The City has not publicly released the documents, video or information
1 2. DEFINITIONS
2 2.1 Action: Danine Dean v. City of Los Angeles, 25-cv-3525 CV (MBKx).
3 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of
4 information or items under this Order.
5 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how
6 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under
7 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause
8 Statement.
9 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their
10 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 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
13 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
14 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among
15 other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated
16 in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
17 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
18 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an
19 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
20 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
21 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
22 counsel.
23 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
24 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
25 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to
26 this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
27 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has
1 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
2 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
3 support staffs).
4 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
5 Discovery Material in this Action.
6 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
7 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
8 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and
9 their employees and subcontractors.
10 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated
11 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
12 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
13 from a Producing Party.
14
15 3. SCOPE
16 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected
17 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from
18 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected
19 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their
20 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
21 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial
22 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
23
24 4. DURATION
25 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced
26 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective
27 order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public,
1 proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v.
2 City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing
3 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling
4 reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record).
5 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement
6 of the trial.
7
8 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
9 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each
10 Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order
11 must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the
12 appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those
13 parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so
14 that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which
15 protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.
16 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that
17 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g.,
18 to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary
19 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions.
20 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
21 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
22 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
23 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this
24 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or
25 ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order
26 must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced.
27 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
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 or portions of the material on a page
6 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
7 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
8 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need
9 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which
10 documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the
11 designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed
12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants
13 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions
14 thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified
15 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page
16 that 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 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify
20 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition.
21 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for
22 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the
23 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
24 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
25 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
26 portion(s).
27 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
1 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon
2 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to
3 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.
4
5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
6 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
7 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling
8 Order.
9 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
10 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq, as modified by Judge Kaufman’s
11 Procedures. See https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-michael-b-kaufman. Any
12 discovery motion must strictly comply with these procedures.
13 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall
14 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper
15 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties)
16 may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has
17 waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford
18 the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
19 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
20
21 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
22 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
23 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action
24 only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected
25 Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions
26 described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must
27 comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).
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 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise
5 ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party
6 may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
7 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well
8 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to
9 disclose the information for this Action;
10 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the
11 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
12 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
13 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
14 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
15 (d) the Court and its personnel;
16 (e) court reporters and their staff;
17 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
18 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
19 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
20 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
21 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
22 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the
23 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party
24 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not
25 be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
26 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed
27 by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition
1 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted
2 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
3 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
4 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
5
6 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED
7 IN OTHER LITIGATION
8 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that
9 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 shall
12 include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
13 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue
14 in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is
15 subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated
16 Protective Order; and
17 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by
18 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
19 If the 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 as
21 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or
22 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The
23 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court
24 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as
25 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive
26 from another court.
27 ///
1 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-
4 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced
5 by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief
6 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a
7 Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a
9 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an
10 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information,
11 then the Party shall:
12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that
13 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a
14 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 within 14 days
21 of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce
22 the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the
23 Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any
24 information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement
25 with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court order to the
26 contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this
27 Court of its Protected Material.
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 writing
6 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve
7 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to
8 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request
9 such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound”
10 that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
11
12 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
13 PROTECTED MATERIAL
14 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
15 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the
16 obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
17 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
18 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
19 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
20 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information
21 covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may
22 incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the Court.
23
24 12. MISCELLANEOUS
25 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
26 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
27 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
1 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
2 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
3 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
4 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
5 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may
6 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific
7 Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file under seal.
8 If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then the
9 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed
10 by the Court.
11
12 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
13 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by
14 the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the
15 Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected
16 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format
17 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material
18 is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the
19 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the
20 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected
21 Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not
22 retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing
23 or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are
24 entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and
25 hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits,
26 expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if
27 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or
1 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in
2 Section 4 (DURATION).
3 14. VIOLATION OF ORDER
4 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures
5 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
6
7 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
8
9 Dated: July 18, 2025 LAW OFFICE OF IAN WALLACH, P.C.
/s/ Ian Wallach
10
By: ___________________________________
11
IAN WALLACH, Esq.
12 Attorneys for Plaintiff DANINE DEAN
13
Dated: July 18, 20025 HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, City Attorney
14
DENISE C. MILLS, Chief Deputy City Attorney
15 By /s/ Shant Taslakian
16 SHANT TASLAKIAN, Deputy City Atty.
17 Attorneys for Defendants CITY OF LOS ANGELES,
18 LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT and
LAPD DETECTIVE CARLOS CARILLO
19
20
21 IT IS SO ORDERED.
22
23
DATED: July 28, 2025 ___/s_/_ M__i_ch_a_e_l_ B__. _K_a_u_fm__a_n______________
24 HONORABLE MICHAEL B. KAUFMAN
25 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
26
27

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11110745. Public record. Not legal advice.