# ACS Security, Inc. v. Stratton Security Group Inc.

> District Court, C.D. California · September 25, 2025

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11166756

## Case

- **Full name:** ACS Security, Inc. v. Stratton Security Group, Inc.
- **Court:** District Court, C.D. California
- **Decided:** September 25, 2025
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

1 || VICTOR R. BALLADARES, SBN 327488
victor. □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
2 || JONATHAN L. SMOLLER, SBN 137013
J □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
3 || OFFIT KURMAN, PC
445 S. Figueroa Street, 18 Floor
4 || Los Angeles, California 90071
Telephone: 213.629.5700
5 || Facsimile: 213.624.9441
6 Attorneys for Defendant Stratton Security
Group, Inc.
7
8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION
10
11 |] ACS SECURITY, INC. Case No. 2:24-cv-11157-DMG-AJR
- 12 Plaintiff, PROF STIPULATED
© ROTECTIVE ORDER
EG 43 VS.
5 Assigned to
< 14 BIRATTON SECURITY GROUP, Hon. Dolly M. Gee, Department 8C
»
15
O Defendant.
16
17
18 ]/ 1. GENERAL
19 1.1. Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve
20 || production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special
21 || protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting
22 this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and
23 || petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties
24 || acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or
25 ||responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and
26 || use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential
27 || treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as
28 || set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle

1 || them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the
2 || procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party
3 || seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
4 1.2 Good Cause Statement.
5 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists,
6 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and
7 || from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such
8 || confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other
9 || things, confidential customer and pricing lists, confidential employee information,
10 || business or financial information, information regarding confidential business
11 || practices, commercial information that may implicate privacy rights of third parties,
< _12|/and/or information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be
= 13 || privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes,
Zz 14 || court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of
15 || information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of
16 || discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep
17 || confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of
18 || such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling
19 || at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such
20 || information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information
21 || will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so
22 || designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential,
23 ||non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public
24 || record of this case.
25||2. DEFINITIONS
26 2.1 Action: The above-captioned action, that is styled as ACS Security, Inc.
27 || v. Stratton Security Group, Inc., Case No. 2:24-cv-11157-DMG (AJRx).
28 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the

1 || designation of information or items under this Order.
2 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of
3 || how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection
4||under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good
5 || Cause Statement.
6 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their
7 || support staff).
8 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
9\/items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
10 || “CONFIDENTIAL.”
1] 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless
< |\of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including,
= 13 || among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or
Zz 14 || generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
15 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
16 || pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as
17 || an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
18 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
19 || House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
20 || counsel.
21 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
22 || other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
23 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party
24 || to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
25 || appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that
26 || has appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff.
27 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
28 ||employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their

1 || support staffs).
2 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
3 || Discovery Material in this Action.
4 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
5||services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
6 || demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium)
7 || and their employees and subcontractors.
8 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
9 || designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
10 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery
11 || Material from a Producing Party.
12/3. SCOPE
= 13 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only
Zz 14 || Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted
15 || from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of
16 || Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties
17 || or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
18 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
19 || trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
20||4. DURATION
21 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be
22 || introduced that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to
23 || this protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all
24 || members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by
25 || specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance
26 || of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81
27 || (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents
28 || produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related

1 || documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the rules and procedures
2 || governing the use of Confidential Information at trial shall be determined by the
3 || Court at the final pretrial conference.
4|5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
5 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
6 || Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
7 || this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
8 || qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
9 || protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
10 |} communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents,
11 || items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept
< 12)/unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.
= 13 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
14 || that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
15 || purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
16 || unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating
17 || Party to sanctions.
18 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
19 || designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
20 || promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
21 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
22 ||this Order (see, _e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
23 || stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
24 || under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
25 || produced.
26 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
27 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
28 ||documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial

1 □□ proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend
2 ||“CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
3 || contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
4 || qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
5 || portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
6 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
7 ||need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
8 || which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and
9 || before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be
10 || deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents
11 || it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents,
< _12/)lor portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing
= 13 ||the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL
14 || legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions
15 || of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly
16 ||identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the
17 || margins).
18 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify
19 || the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition.
20 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and
21 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on
22 || the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
23 ||“CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
24 || protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
25 || portion(s).
26 5.3. Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
27 || failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
28 || the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material.

1 || Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable
2 || efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this
3 || Order.
4|/6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
5 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
6||designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
7 || Scheduling Order.
8 6.2 Meet Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
9 || resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq. Any discovery motion must strictly
10 || comply with the procedures set forth in Local Rules 37-1, 37-2, and 37-3.
1] 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding
< 12||shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an
= 13 || improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on
Zz 14 || other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the
15 || Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all
16 || parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to
17 || which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on
18 || the challenge.
19||7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
20 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
21 || disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
22 || Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
23 || Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the
24 || conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving
25 || Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).
26 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
27 ||location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
28 || authorized under this Order.

1 7.2. Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless
2 || otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a
3||Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated
4 || ““CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
5 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as
6 || well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably
7 ||necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
8 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of
9 || the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
10 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
12)|“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
= 13 (d) the Court and its personnel;
Zz 14 (e) court reporters and their staff;
15 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
16 || Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
17 || signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
18 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
19 || custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
20 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in
21 ||the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing
22 || party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they
23 || will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
24 || “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise
25 ||agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed
26 || deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be
27 || separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as
28 || permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and

1 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
2 || mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
31/8. PROTECTED _MATERIAL _SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED
4 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION
5 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation
6||that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
7\|“CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
8 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall
9 || include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
10 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to
11 || issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena
< _12/\or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of
= 13 || this Stipulated Protective Order; and
Zz 14 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by
15 || the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
16 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with
17 || the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this
18 || action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the
19 || subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s
20 || permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking
21 || protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions
22 ||should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action
23 || to disobey a lawful directive from another court.
24/19. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT □□ □□
25 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
26 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-
27||Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information
28 || produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the

1 || remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be
2 || construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
3 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce
4 ||a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an
5||agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential
6 || information, then the Party shall:
7 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party
8 || that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement
9 || with a Non-Party;
10 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated
11 || Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably
< 12]|specific description of the information requested; and
= 13 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-
Zz 14 || Party, if requested.
15 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14
16 || days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party
17 || may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery
18 || request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall
19 || not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the
20 || confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court.
21 || Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and
22 || expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material.
23|}10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
24 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
25 || Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
26 || Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in
27 || writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts
28 || to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or

1 || persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order,
2 || and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and
3 || Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
4)/11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
5 PROTECTED MATERIAL
6 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
7 || inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
8 || the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
9 || Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever
10 || procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production
11 || without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and
12|\(e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a
= 13 || communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work
Zz 14 || product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated
15 || protective order submitted to the Court.
16/}12. MISCELLANEOUS
17 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
18 || person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
19 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
20 || Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
21 || disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
22 || Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
23 || ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
24 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
25 || Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material
26 || may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
27 || specific Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file
28 || under seal. Ifa Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the

1 || Court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless
2 || otherwise instructed by the Court.
3/13. FINAL DISPOSITION
4 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request
5 || by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to
6 || the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all
7 || Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any
8 || other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the
9 || Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a
10 || written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to
11 || the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where
< appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2)
= 13 || affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations,
Zz 14 summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected
15 || Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival
16 || copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal
17 || memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney
18 || work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials
19 || contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute
20 || Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4
21|}(DURATION).
22/114. VIOLATION OF ORDER
23 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate
24 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary
25 || sanctions.
26
27
28

1 ||} IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
2 || DATED: September 24, 2025 SHOOK, HARDY & BACON LLP
3
4 By: /s/ Caroline Gieser
5 Thomas Wynsma
Charles C. Eblen
6 Caroline M. Gieser
7 Attorneys for Plaintiff
ACS Security, Inc.
9 DATED: September 24, 2025 OFFIT KURMAN, P.C.
10
ll By: /s/ Victor R. Balladares
Victor R. Balladares
Attorneys for Defendant
= 3 Stratton Security Group, Inc.
5
< 14
5 13 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
16
17 .
18 .
DATED: September 25 __, 2025 HON. A. JOEI*RICHLIN
19 United States Magistrate Judge
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

1 EXHIBIT A
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
4 I, [full name], of
5 || [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and
6 || understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States
7 || District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the
8 || case of ACS Security, Inc. v. Stratton Security Group, Inc., Case No. 2:24-cv-
9 |} 11157-DMG (AJRx). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this
10 || Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so
11 || comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I
< 12)|solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that
= 13 || is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict
Zz 14 || compliance with the provisions of this Order.
15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court
16 || for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this
17 || Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after
18 || termination of this action. I hereby appoint [full
19 || name] of [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 signed:
25 || Printed name:
26 || Signature:
27 4912-6066-4939, v. 1
28

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11166756. Public record. Not legal advice.