Opinion

Court: District Court, C.D. California
Filed: Nov 7, 2025
Cited by: 0 cases

The opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

11 CESAR PUGA, Case No.: 5:25-cv-2079-SVW (DTBx)

[PROPOSED] STIPULATED

13 Plaintiff, PROTECTIVE ORDER

Action Filed: August 8, 2025

15 v. Pretrial Conference: XXX

16 Trial Date: XXX

CITY OF RIVERSIDE, COUNTY OF Assigned to:

18 RIVERSIDE; and DOE OFFICERS 1 Hon. Stephen V. Wilson

– 10, U.S. District Court Judge

Courtroom 10A

Defendants.

1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

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

proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public

disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be

warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the

following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not

confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the

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

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

principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this

Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under

seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the

standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file

material under seal.

B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

In light of the nature of the claims and allegations in this case and the parties'

representations that discovery in this case will involve the production of confidential

records (including but not limited to employment/personnel records and information of

individually named Defendants and/or other employees of the County). In addition,

Defendants anticipate conducting discovery as to Plaintiff’s mental health history, as

well as any potential criminal history of Plaintiff and law enforcement interactions,

which may include disclosure of sealed , confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

In order to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of

disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information

the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted

reasonable necessary uses of such material in connection with this action, to address

their handling of such material at the end of the litigation, and to serve the ends of

justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. The parties

shall not designate any information/documents as confidential without a good faith belief

that such information/documents have been maintained in a confidential, non-public

manner, and that there is good cause or a compelling reason why it should not be part of

28 the public record of this case.

2. DEFINITIONS

2.1 Action: Cesar Puga v. County of Riverside, et al., USDC Case Number

5:25-cv-2079-SVW (DTBx).

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

information or items under this Order.

2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how

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

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

Statement.

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

support staff).

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

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

“CONFIDENTIAL.”

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,

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

generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.

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

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

expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

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

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

counsel.

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

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

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

28 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have

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

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

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

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

support staffs).

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

Discovery Material in this Action.

2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support

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

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

their employees and subcontractors.

2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is

designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

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

from a Producing Party.

3. SCOPE

The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only

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

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

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

Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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

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

4. DURATION

Should this Action proceed to trial or to a determination on its merits via a

28 F.R.C.P. Rule 56 motion, and in connection therewith any or all of the Protected

Material is offered as evidence, the disclosure after final disposition of Protected

Material offered as evidence shall be subject to Kamakana v. City and County of

Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180–81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause”

showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons”

standard when merits-related documents are submitted as part of court record), or the

controlling authority at the time of the requested disclosure.

Except for Protected Material offered in evidence as described in the preceding

paragraph, even after final disposition of this litigation the confidentiality obligations

imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise

in writing, the confidential item or information has been de-designated in accordance

with Part VI, infra, or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed

to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with or without

prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all

appeals, rehearing’s, remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, including the time limits

for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law.

5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for items, or

communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably

within the ambit of this Order.

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

are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g.,

to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary

expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions.

If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it

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

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

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

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

ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order

must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced.

Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

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

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

“CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the protection only those

parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify

so that other portions of the material, documents, documents it wants copied and

produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof,

qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents

the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains

Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for

protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g.,

by making appropriate markings in the margins).

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

28 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the

deposition all protected testimony.

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

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

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

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

portion(s).

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

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

Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon

timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to

assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

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

designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s

Scheduling Order.

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

resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.

7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

authorized under this Order.

7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise

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

may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

(a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as

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

to disclose the information for this Action;

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

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

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

“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

(d) the court and its personnel;

(e) court reporters and their staff;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto; and (2) they will not

be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the

“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise

agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed

deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be

separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except s

permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and

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

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

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN

OTHER LITIGATION

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

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

“CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

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

shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

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

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

subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a

copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and

pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.

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

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

28 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or

order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The

Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court

of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as

authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive

from another court.

9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED

IN THIS LITIGATION

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

Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information

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

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

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

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

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

subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s

confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

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

agreement with a Non-Party;

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

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

specific description of the information requested; and

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

Non-Party, if requested.

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

28 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If

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

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

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

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

protection in this court of its Protected Material.

10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE

PROTECTED MATERIAL

When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain

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

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

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

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

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

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

covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may

incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court.

28 ///

12. MISCELLANEOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.

13. FINAL DISPOSITION

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

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

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

subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations,

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

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

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

entity, to 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)

affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts,

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

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

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

2 || legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorne

3 || work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain

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

5 || Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION

6 ||14. 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.

10 | ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

12 || DATED: _ October 28, 2025

14 ||/s/__Astina Shakilyan

Attorneys for Plaintiff(s)

DATED: _ November 4, 2025

/s/ Molshree Gupta

19 |) Attorneys for Defendant(s)

21 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

22 ||DATED: _ November 7, 2025

24 || Honorable David T. Bristow

25 || United States District/Magistrate Judge

EXHIBIT A

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

I, [print or type full name], of

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

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

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

[date] in the case of Cesar Puga v. County of Riverside, et al., USDC Case Number

5:25-cv-2079-SVW (DTBx). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of

this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so

comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I

solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is

subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict

compliance with the provisions of this Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction

of the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the

purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such

enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I hereby appoint

[print or type full name] of

[print or type full address and telephone number] as my California

agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related

to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.

Date:

City and State where sworn and signed:

Printed name:

Signature:

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