Opinion

John Webster v. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America

Court: District Court, C.D. California
Filed: Aug 29, 2025
Cited by: 0 cases

The opinion

1 MSCICOHTTA EEL. C BA. LHVOERRRTO (WSB (NSB 2N10 1768279)1 7)

2 DONAHUE & HORROW, LLP

1960 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 1215

3 El Segundo, California 90245

Telephone: (310) 322-0300

4 Email: mhorrow@donahuehorrow.com

Email: scalvert@donahuehorrow.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff John Webster

SCHWARTZ SEMERDJIAN CAULEY

7 SCHENA & BUSH LLP

Dick A. Semerdjian (SBN 123630)

8 9000 Sunset Blvd., Suite 1260

West Hollywood, CA 90069

9 Telephone: (310) 550-8857

Email: das@sscelaw.com

BURR & FORMAN LLP

11 Jennifer M. Busby (Admitted Pro Hac Vice)

420 20th Street North, Suite 3400

12 Birmingham, AL 35203

Telephone: (205) 251-3000

13 Email: gbusby@burr.com

14 Attorneys for Defendant Allianz Life

Insurance Company of North America

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

20 JOHN WEBSTER, Case No.: 5:25-cv-00810-SSS(SPx)

Plaintiff,

ORDER APPROVING

vs. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE

ORDER

ALLIANZ LIFE INSURANCE

COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA;

DOES 1-10

Defendants.

1 Plaintiff John Webster (Plaintiff) and Defendant Allianz Life Insurance

2 Company of North America (Defendant) (collectively, the Parties) hereby submit

3 the following Stipulated Protective Order.

4 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

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

6 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure

7 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted.

8 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the

9 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does

10 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the

11 protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited

12 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable

13 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below,

14 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential

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

16 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from

17 the court to file material under seal.

18 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

19 In this dispute over insurance benefits, the discovery materials requested and

20 exchanged throughout the course of the litigation will include confidential and

21 proprietary materials and information regarding Defendants claims handling

22 standards. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of,

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

24 regarding confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development,

25 or commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third

26 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be

27 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court

28 rules, case decisions, or common law. In addition, discovery will necessarily include

1 Plaintiffs private, sensitive medical documents.

2 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt

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

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

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

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

7 the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It

8 is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for

9 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it

10 has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause

11 why it should not be part of the public record of this case.

12 2. DEFINITIONS

13 2.1 Action: the above captioned pending federal lawsuit.

14 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation

15 of information or items under this Order.

16 2.3 CONFIDENTIAL Information or Items: information (regardless of

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

18 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good

19 Cause Statement.

20 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their

21 support staff).

22 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or

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

24 CONFIDENTIAL.

25 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of

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

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

28 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.

1 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

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

3 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

4 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.

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

6 counsel.

7 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or

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

9 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party

10 to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in

11 this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared

12 on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.

13 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

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

15 support staffs).

16 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

17 Discovery Material in this Action.

18 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support

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

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

21 and their employees and subcontractors.

22 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is

23 designated as CONFIDENTIAL.

24 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material

25 from a Producing Party.

26 3. SCOPE

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

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

1 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of

2 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties

3 or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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

5 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.

6 4. DURATION

7 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as

8 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will

9 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless

10 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are

11 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of

12 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing good cause

13 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from compelling reasons

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

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

16 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

17 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.

18 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this

19 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies

20 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection

21 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that

22 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications

23 for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of

24 this Order.

25 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations

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

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

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

1 to sanctions.

2 If it comes to a Designating Partys attention that information or items that it

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

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

5 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in

6 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise

7 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection

8 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or

9 produced.

10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

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

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

14 CONFIDENTIAL (hereinafter CONFIDENTIAL legend), to each page that

15 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page

16 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected

17 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).

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

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

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

21 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed

22 CONFIDENTIAL. After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants

23 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or

24 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the

25 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the CONFIDENTIAL legend

26 to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the

27 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly

28 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the

1 margins).

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

3 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all

4 protected testimony.

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

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

7 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend

8 CONFIDENTIAL. If only a portion or portions of the information warrants

9 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected

10 portion(s).

11 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent

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

13 Designating Partys right to secure protection under this Order for such material.

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

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

16 Order.

17 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

18 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a

19 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Courts

20 Scheduling Order.

21 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute

22 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.

23 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on

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

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

26 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or

27 withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the

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

1 Partys designation until the Court rules on the challenge.

2 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

3 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is

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

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

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

7 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving

8 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).

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

10 and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized

11 under this Order.

12 7.2 Disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL Information or Items. Unless

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

14 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated CONFIDENTIAL

15 only to:

16 (a) the Receiving Partys Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well

17 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to

18 disclose the information for this Action;

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

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

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

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

23 Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound (Exhibit A);

24 (d) the court and its personnel;

25 (e) court reporters and their staff;

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

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

28 signed the Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound (Exhibit A);

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

2 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;

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

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

5 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) they will

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

7 Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed

8 by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition

9 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately

10 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted

11 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and

12 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,

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

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED

PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION

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

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

CONFIDENTIAL, that Party must:

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

include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

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

issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or

order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this

Stipulated Protective Order; and

the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.

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

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

1 action as CONFIDENTIAL before a determination by the court from which the

2 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Partys

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

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

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

6 disobey a lawful directive from another court.

9. A NON-PARTYS PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE

PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION

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

Party in this Action and designated as CONFIDENTIAL. Such information

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

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

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

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

produce a Non-Partys confidential information in its possession, and the Party is

subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Partys

confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with

a Non-Party;

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

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

description of the information requested; and

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

Party, if requested.

days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may

produce the Non-Partys confidential information responsive to the discovery request.

If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce

1 any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality

2 agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court

3 order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking

4 protection in this court of its Protected Material.

5 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

12 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the Acknowledgment and

13 Agreement to Be Bound that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE

PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

22 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the

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

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

25 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to

26 the court.

27 12. MISCELLANEOUS

28 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any

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

2 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this

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

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

5 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any

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

7 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any

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

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

10 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material

11 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in

12 the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.

13 13. FINAL DISPOSITION

14 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60

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

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

17 subdivision, all Protected Material includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,

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

19 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party

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

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

22 category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed

23 and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts,

24 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the

25 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an

26 archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts,

27 legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports,

28 attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials

1 || contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute

2 || Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4

3 || (DURATION).

4 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate

5 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary

6 || sanctions.

7 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

9 || DATED: August 26, 2025 DONAHUE & HORROW, LLP

5 /s/ Scott E. Calvert

z= 12 MICHAEL B. HORROW

SCOTT E. CALVERT

S 13 Attorneys for Plaintiff John Webster

= 15

z 16

DATED: August 26, 2025 BURR & FORMAN LLP

/s/ Jennifer M. Busb

19 JENNIFER M. BUSBY

0 Attorneys for Defendant Allianz Life

Insurance Company of North America

23 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: August 29, 2025

28 HONORABLE SHERI PYM

United States Magistrate Judge

412,

1 EXHIBIT A

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of

4 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that

5 I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was

6 issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on

7 [date] in the case of ___________ [insert formal name of the case and the number

8 and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all

9 the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that

10 failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of

11 contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information

12 or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity

13 except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.

14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court

15 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this

16 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after

17 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or

18 type full name] of _______________________________________ [print or type full

19 address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in

20 connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this

21 Stipulated Protective Order.

22 Date: ______________________________________

23 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________

24 Printed name: _______________________________

25 Signature: __________________________________

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