The opinion
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9
EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10
11 MARIA CONSUELO RODRIGUEZ, an Case No. 1:25-cv-00339-JLT-CDB
individual,
12
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
Plaintiff,
13
vs.
14
15
NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC., a
16 Delaware Corporation; and DOES 1 through 10,
inclusive,
17
Defendants.
18
19
20 1. GENERAL
21 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of
22 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure
23 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly,
24 the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective
25 Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all
26 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and
27 use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under
1 1.2 Good Cause Statement.
2 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and other valuable
3 research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for which
4 special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of
5 this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of,
6 among other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding
7 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial
8 information (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information
9 otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected
10 from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law.
11 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over
12 confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to
13 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material
14 in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation,
15 and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is
16 the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons
17 and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a
18 confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public
19 record of this case.
20 2. DEFINITIONS
21 2.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit, Case No. 1:25-cv-00339-JLT-CDB.
22 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of
23 information or items under this Order.
24 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is
25 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of
26 Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement.
27 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support
1 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it
2 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
3 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium
4 or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony,
5 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to
6 discovery in this matter.
7 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to
8 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a
9 consultant in this Action.
10 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House
11 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel.
12 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal
13 entity not named as a Party to this action.
14 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this
15 Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have appeared in this Action
16 on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that party,
17 including support staff.
18 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, employees,
19 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs).
20 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery
21 Material in this Action.
22 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services
23 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing,
24 storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors.
25 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as
26 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
27 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a
1 3. SCOPE
2 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material
3 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all
4 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony,
5 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
6 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. This
7 Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
8 4. DURATION
9 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced that was
10 previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public
11 and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless
12 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial
13 judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180–81
14 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery
15 from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record).
16 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
17 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
18 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or
19 Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to
20 limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The
21 Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or
22 oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items,
23 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the
24 ambit of this Order.
25 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown
26 to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily
27 encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other
1 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for
2 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties
3 that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
4 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order
5 (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered,
6 Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so
7 designated before the material is disclosed or produced.
8 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
9 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but
10 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party
11 affix, at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to
12 each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
13 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g.,
14 by making appropriate markings in the margins).
15 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not
16 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it would
17 like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made
18 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has
19 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which
20 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the
21 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page
22 that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for
23 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making
24 appropriate markings in the margins).
25 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify the
26 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition.
27 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other
1 or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion
2 or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable,
3 shall identify the protected portion(s).
4 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to
5 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s
6 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a
7 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated
8 in accordance with the provisions of this Order.
9 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
10 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of
11 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order.
12 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process.
13 Any discovery motion must comply with local rules.
14 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the
15 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass
16 or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to
17 sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation,
18 all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is
19 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
20 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
21 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or
22 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for prosecuting,
23 defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the
24 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been
25 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL
26 DISPOSITION).
27 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in
1 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered
2 by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any
3 information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
4 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as
5 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the
6 information for this Action;
7 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the
8 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
9 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is
10 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to
11 Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
12 (d) the Court and its personnel;
13 (e) court reporters and their staff;
14 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to
15 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
16 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
17 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian
18 or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
19 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action to
20 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the witness
21 sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any
22 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound”
23 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of
24 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
25 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under
26 this Stipulated Protective Order; and
27 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually
1 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN
2 OTHER LITIGATION
3 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels
4 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party
5 must:
6 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy
7 of the subpoena or court order;
8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the
9 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this
10 Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
11 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the
12 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
13 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena
14 or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL”
15 before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has
16 obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and
17 expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these
18 provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to
19 disobey a lawful directive from another court.
20 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN
21 THIS LITIGATION
22 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this
23 Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in
24 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order.
25 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional
26 protections.
27 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non-
1 Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall:
2 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or
3 all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;
4 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order
5 in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the
6 information requested; and
7 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if
8 requested.
9 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14 days of
10 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-
11 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks
12 a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control
13 that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the
14 Court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of
15 seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material.
16 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
17 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected
18 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order,
19 the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized
20 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c)
21 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this
22 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to
23 Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
24 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
PROTECTED MATERIAL
25
When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently
26
produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the
27
Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision
1 is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that
2 provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d)
3 and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
4 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may
5 incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the Court.
6 12. MISCELLANEOUS
7 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to
8 seek its modification by the Court in the future.
9 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order,
10 no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any
11 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no
12 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by
13 this Protective Order.
14 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
15 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by the
16 Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party
17 or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies,
18 abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the
19 Protected 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 or entity, to
21 the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate)
22 all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party
23 has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or
24 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to
25 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts,
26 legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work
27 product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material.
1 Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION).
2 |} 14. VIOLATION OF ORDER
3 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures including,
4 || without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
5 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
6 Respectfully submitted,
7 Dated: August 27, 2025 QUILL & ARROW, LLP
8
? By /s/ White J. Xie
10 WHITE J. XIE
11 Attorney for Plaintiff
MARIA CONSUELO RODRIGUEZ
13
Dated: August 25, 2025 SHOOK, HARDY & BACON L.L.P.
14
15 By /s/ Mei Xuan
JASON RICHARDSON
16 MEI XUAN
17 Attorneys for Defendant
18 NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
19
IT IS SO ORDERED.
20 (
Dated: _ September 3, 2025
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
4 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ [full address],
5 declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated
6 Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
7 California on September 3, 2025, in the case of Maria Consuelo Rodriguez v. Nissan North America,
8 Inc., Case No. 1:25-cv-00339-JLT-CDB. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms
9 of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could
10 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will
11 not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order
12 to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern
14 District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even
15 if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I hereby appoint
16 __________________________ [full name] of _______________________________________
17 [full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with
18 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.
19
20 Date: ______________________________________
21 City and State where signed: _________________________________
22 Printed name: _______________________________
23 Signature: __________________________________
24
25
26
27