# Opinion

> District Court, C.D. California · October 3, 2025

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11173063

## Case

- **Full name:** Angela Smith v. Universal Content Productions LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; and DOES 1-50, inclusive
- **Court:** District Court, C.D. California
- **Decided:** October 3, 2025
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

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- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11173063

## Opinion text

l LOUISE JFRUONG (SBN 293811)
tans .com
2 | REBECCA BENY AMIN (SBN 334130)
pe peel Deny dai uk com
3 | MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP LLP
2049 Century Park East, 18th Floor
4 | Los Angeles, CA 90067-3120
Telephone: GC 10) 312-2000
5 | Facsimile: (310) 312-3100
6 | Attorneys for Defendant
Universal Content Productions LLC
7
8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10
11 | ANGELA SMITH, an individual, Case No. 2:25-cv-05524 AH (MBKx)
12 Plaintiff, Judge Anne Hwang, Courtroom 7D
13 V. [PROPOSED] STIPULATED
PROTECTIVE ORDER
14 | UNIVERSAL CONTENT
PRODUCTIONS LLC, a Delaware
15 | limited liability company; and DOES 1-
50, inclusive,
16
Defendants.
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D&
berberg &
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1} 1. GENERAL
2 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve
3 | production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special
4 | protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than
5 | prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby
6 | stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective
7 | Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections
8 | on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from
9 | public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are
10 | entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties
11 | further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated
12 | Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal;
13 | Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the
14 | standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file
15 | material under seal.
16 1.2 Good Cause Statement.
17 This action is likely to involve commercial, financial, technical and/or
18 | proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and
19 | from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such
20 | confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other
21 | things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding
22 | confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or
23 | commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third
24 | parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may
25 | be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes,
26 | court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of
27 | information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of
28 | discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to
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1 | keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses
2 | of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their
3 | handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order
4 | for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that
5 | information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that
6 | nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in
7 | □ confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be
8 | part of the public record of this case.
9 | 2. DEFINITIONS
10 2.1 Action: The above-entitled lawsuit, Case No. 2:25-cv-05524 AH
11 | (MBKx).
12 2.2 Challenging Party: A Party or Non-Party that challenges the
13 | designation of information or items under this Order.
14 2.3. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information (regardless of
15 | how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for
16 | protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in
17 | the Good Cause Statement.
18 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as
19 | their support staff).
20 2.5 Designating Party: A Party or Non-Party that designates information
21 | or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
22 | “CONFIDENTIAL.”
23 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: All items or information,
24 | regardless of the medium or manner in which it 1s generated, stored, or maintained
25 | (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are
26 | produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
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l 2.7. Expert: A person with specialized knowledge or experience in a
2 | matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to
3 | serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
4 2.8 In-House Counsel: Attorneys who are employees of a party to this
5 | Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other
6 | outside counsel.
7 2.9 Non-Party: Any natural person, partnership, corporation, association,
8 | or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
9 2.10 Qutside Counsel of Record: Attorneys who are not employees of a
10 | party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action
11 | and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law
12 | firm that has appeared on behalf of that party, including 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
19 | support 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
25 | Material 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
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1 | extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or
2 | compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or
3 | presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
4 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
5 | trial 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 court-filed information to be
8 | introduced that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant
9 | to this protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all
10 | members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported
11 | by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in
12 | advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172,
13 | 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing
14 | documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when
15 | merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this
16 | protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.
5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
18 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
19 | Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under
20 | this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that
21 | qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for
22 | protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written
23 | communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents,
24 | items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept
25 | unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.
26 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited.
27 | Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an
28 | improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process
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1 | or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the
2 | Designating Party to sanctions.
3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
4 | designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
5 | promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in
7 | this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise
8 | stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection
9 | under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or
10 | produced.
11 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
12 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
13 | documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
14 | proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend
15 | “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a
16 | portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing
17 | Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making
18 | appropriate markings in the margins).
19 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for
20 | inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party
21 | has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the
22 | inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for
23 | inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has
24 | identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must
25 | determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this
26 | Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must
27 | affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains Protected Material.
28 | If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the
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1 | Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making
2 | appropriate markings in the margins).
3 (b) For testimony given in depositions or in other pretrial or trial
4 | proceedings, that the Designating Party identify the Disclosure or Discovery
5 | Material on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other
6 | proceeding, all protected testimony and specify the level of protection being
7 | asserted. Alternatively, when it is impractical to identify separately each portion of
8 | testimony that is entitled to protection, the Designating Party shall have up to 15
9 | days after a deposition, hearing, or other proceeding to identify the specific
10 | portions of the testimony as to which protection is sought and to specify the level
11 | of protection being asserted. Alternatively, a Designating Party may specify, at the
12 | deposition or up to 15 days afterwards, that the entire transcript shall be treated as
13 | “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 (c) For information produced in some form other than documentary
15 | and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent
16 | place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is
17 | stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the
18 | information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable,
19 | shall identify the protected portion(s).
20 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
21 | failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive
22 | the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such
23 | material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make
24 | reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the
25 | provisions of this Order.
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1 | 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
2 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
3 | designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s
4 | Scheduling Order.
5 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
6 | resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq, as modified by Judge Kaufman’s
7 | Procedures. See https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-michael-b-kaufman.
8 | Any discovery motion must strictly comply with these procedures.
9 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding
10 | shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an
11 | improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on
12 | other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the
13 | Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all
14 | parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to
15 | which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on
16 | the challenge.
17 | 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
18 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that
19 | is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this
20 | Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such
21 | Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under
22 | the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a
23 | Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL
24 | DISPOSITION).
25 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
26 | location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
27 | authorized under this Order.
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l 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
6 | Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is
7 | reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Action;
8 (b) The officers, directors, and employees (including House
9 | Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for
10 | this Action;
11 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to
12 | whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
13 | “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
14 (d) The Court and its personnel;
15 (e) Court reporters and their staff;
16 (f) | Professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and
17 | Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action
18 | and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit
19 | A);
20 (g) The author or recipient of a document containing the
21 | information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the
22 | information;
23 (h) During their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses,
24 | in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the
25 | deposing party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto;
26 | and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they
27 | sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless
28 | otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of
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1 | transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected
2 | Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed
3 | to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
4 (i) Any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting
5 | personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement
6 | discussions.
8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED
8 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION
9 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation
10 | that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
11 | “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
12 (a) Promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such
13 | notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
14 (b) Promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena
15 | or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by
16 | the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall
17 | include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
18 (c) Cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to
19 | be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
20 If the Designating Party timely secks a protective order, the Party served
21 | with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in
22 | this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which
23 | the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s
24 | permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking
25 | protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions
26 | should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action
27 | to disobey a lawful directive from another court.
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1/9. ANON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced
4 | by a Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such
5 | information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected
6 | by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions
7 | should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional
8 | protections.
9 (b) Inthe event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery
10 | request, to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and
11 | the Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-
12 | Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall:
13 (1) Promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the
14 | Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a
15 | confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;
16 (2) Promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the
17 | Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a
18 | reasonably specific description of the information requested; and
19 (3) Make the information requested available for inspection
20 | by the Non-Party, if requested.
21 (c) Ifthe Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court
22 | within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the
23 | Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive
24 | to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the
25 | Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that
26 | is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a
27 | determination by the Court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party
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1 | shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its
2 | Protected Material.
3/10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
4 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has
5 | disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized
6 | under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a)
7 | notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its
8 | best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform
9 | the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms
10 | of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the
11 | “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit
12] A.
13/11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR
14 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL
15 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
16 | inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other
17 | protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal
18 | Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify
19 | whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for
20 | production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence
21 | 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure
22 | of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or
23 | work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the
24 | stipulated protective order submitted to the Court.
25/12. MISCELLANEOUS
26 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of
27 | any person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
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1 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
2 | Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
3 | disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in
4 | this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on
5 | any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective
6 | 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
9 | may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the
10 | specific Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to
11 | file under seal. Ifa Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied
12 | by the Court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record
13 | unless otherwise instructed by the Court.
13. FINAL DISPOSITION
15 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request
16 | by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material
17 | to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all
18 | Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and
19 | any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether
20 | the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a
21 | written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to
22 | the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category,
23 | where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and
24 | (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts,
25 | compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the
26 | Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain
27 | an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing
28 | transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
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1 | reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if
2 | such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain
3 | or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth
4 | in Section 4 (DURATION).
5|14. VIOLATION OF ORDER
6 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate
7 | measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary
8 | sanctions.
ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
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13 | DATED: October 3, 2025 JML LAW
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15 /s/ Adriana Garrido
16 Cathryn G. Fund
Adriana Garrido
17 Attorneys for Plaintiff
18 Angela Smith
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21 | DATED: October 3, 2025 MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP LLP
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23 /s/ Louise Truong
4 Louise Truong
Rebecca Benyamin
25 Attorneys for Defendant
%6 Universal Content Productions LLC
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2
berberg &
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1 | IT ISSO ORDERED.
2 ;
3 | DATED: _ 10/03/2025 ft CZ tf: —
4 MICHAEL B. KAUFMAN
; UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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l 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 case of
8 [insert case name and number]. | agree to comply with and to be
9 | bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and
10 | acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and
11 | punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in
12 | any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective
13 | Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this
14 | Order.
15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District
16 | Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms
17 | of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur
18 | after termination of this action. I hereby appoint
19 | [full name] of [full address and
20 | telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection
21 | with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated
22 | Protective Order.
23 | Date:
24 | City and State where signed:
25
26 | Printed name:
27
28 | Signature:
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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/11173063. Public record. Not legal advice.