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
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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ESTATE OF JAMES EVANS, by and ,C ASE NO. 2:24−cv−09198−SRM−JC
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through successors in interest,
12 LASHONDA BANKS and GODFREY
EVANS; LASHONDA BANKS MODIFIED PROTECTIVE ORDER
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individually; GODFREY EVANS,
14 individually, [CHANGES MADE BY COURT TO
Plaintiffs, PARAGRAPHS 3 & 5]
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v.
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COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, a public
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entity; LOS ANGELES COUNTY Complaint Filed:
18 SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, a public October 24, 2024
entity; SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA,
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individually; and DOES 1 through 10,
20 individually,
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Defendants.
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1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,
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proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure
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and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted.
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Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to petition the Court to enter the following
1 Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer
2 blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection
3 it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or
4 items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles.
5 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
6 Good cause exists for entry of this stipulated protective order because discovery
7 exchanged in this action is likely to contain documents with information that could
8 infringe on the privacy rights of third parties, including County employees and other
9 inmates at Men’s Central Jail who are not parties in this matter. Gov. Code § 6254(c)
10 exempts from inspection of public records “personnel, medical, or similar files, the
11 disclosure of which constitute unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
12 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution
13 of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect
14 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are
15 permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the
16 conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the
17 ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is
18 the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for
19 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it
20 has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause
21 why it should not be part of the public record of this case.
22 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE
23 The parties further acknowledge that this Stipulated Protective Order does not
24 entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets
25 forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when
26 a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong
27 presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records
1 to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447
2 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-
3 11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D.
4 Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a
5 specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support
6 and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party
7 seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery
8 Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent
9 evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal
10 qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause.
11 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then
12 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief
13 sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See
14 Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item
15 or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal,
16 the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific
17 facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent
18 evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must be provided by
19 declaration.
20 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in
21 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If
22 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only
23 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall
24 be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety
25 should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible.
26 4. DEFINITIONS
27 4.1 This federal lawsuit entitled Estate of Evans, et al. vs. County of Los
1 causes of action arising from County Defendants’ alleged failure to provide Decedent
2 James Evans with adequate medical care, supervision and monitoring during his
3 detention at Los Angeles’ County’s Men’s Central Jail.
4 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of
5 information or items under this Order.
6 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how
7 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection
8 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good
9 Cause Statement.
10 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their
11 support staff).
12 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
13 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery
14 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
15 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
16 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
17 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or
18 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.
19 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
20 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an
21 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
22 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
23 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
24 counsel.
25 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other
26 legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
27 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to
1 this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared
2 on behalf of that party, and includes support staff.
3 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
4 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
5 support staffs).
6 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
7 Discovery Material in this Action.
8 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
9 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
10 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and
11 their employees and subcontractors.
12 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated
13 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
15 from a Producing Party.
16 5. SCOPE
17 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected
18 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from
19 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected
20 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their
21 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material other than during a court hearing or at
22 trial.
23 Any use of Protected Material during a court hearing or at trial shall be governed
24 by the orders of the presiding judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected
25 Material during a court hearing or at trial.
26 6. DURATION
27 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as
1 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members
2 of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific
3 factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial.
4 See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing
5 documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-
6 related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective
7 order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
8 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
9 7.1 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
12 the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only
13 those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written communications that
14 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for
15 which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this
16 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 purpose
19 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
20 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party
21 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 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this
26 Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that
27 qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the
1 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
2 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents,
3 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the
4 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter
5 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a
6 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must
7 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
8 margins).
9 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
10 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
11 which documents it would like copied and produced.
12 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made
13 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting
14 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party
15 must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this
16 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix
17 the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only
18 a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also
19 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in
20 the margins).
21 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the
22 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all
23 protected testimony.
24 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any
25 other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior
26 of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
27 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
1 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
2 portion(s).
3 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure
4 to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the
5 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon
6 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts
7 to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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/s/
11 Dated: September 15, 2025
Honorable Jacqueline Chooljian
12 United States Magistrate Judge
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