Opinion

Court: District Court, C.D. California
Filed: Feb 2, 2026
Cited by: 0 cases
Authority: More cited than 41.1%

The opinion

1 Tionna Carvalho (SBN 299010)

tcarvalho@slpattorney.com

Elizabeth Larocque (SBN 219977)

3 elarocque@slpattorney.com

STRATEGIC LEGAL PRACTICES, APC

4 1888 Century Park East, 19th Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90067

Telephone: (310) 929-4900

6 Facsimile: (310) 943-3838

7 Attorneys for Plaintiff, BRIAN VELAZQUEZ

8 Steven D. Park (SBN 215219)

spark@parklawless.com

Vincent Tremonti (SBN 301571)

10 vtremonti@parklawless.com

PARK LAWLESS & TREMONTI LLP

11 515 S. Flower Street, 18th Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90071

Telephone: (213) 640-3770

13 Facsimile: (213) 640-3015

14 Attorney for Defendant, FCA US, LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

BRIAN VELAZQUEZ, Case No. 2:25-cv-10389-JFW-E

Plaintiff, District Judge John F. Walter

Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick

20 v.

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE

21 FCA US, LLC; and, DOES 1 through ORDER

10, inclusive,

Los Angeles County Superior Court

23 Defendants. Case No.: 25LBCV00659

Filed: March 10, 2025

Removal Date: October 29, 2025

25 Trial Date: TBD

26 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

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

1 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public

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

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

4 the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order

5 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and

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

7 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the

8 applicable legal principles.

9 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

10 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and

11 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or

12 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and from

13 use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such

14 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other

15 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding

16 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or

17 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third

18 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be

19 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes,

20 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, 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 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling

at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such

information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information

will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so

1 non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public

2 record of this case.

3 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE

4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this

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

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

7 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court

8 to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right

9 of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-

10 dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See

11 Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006),

12 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-

Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even

stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of

good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal

justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to

file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material

as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by

declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as

confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause.

Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then

compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the

relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected.

See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For

each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced

under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons,

supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order.

1 must be provided by declaration.

2 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in

3 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If

4 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only

5 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall

6 be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety

7 should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible.

8 4. DEFINITIONS

9 4.1 Action: Brian Velazquez v. FCA US, LLC, et. al., United States Central

10 District Court of California Case No. 2:25-cv-10389-JFW-E.

11 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of

12 information or items under this Order.

4.3 “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.

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

support staff).

4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items

that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

4.6 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.

4.7 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.

1 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel.

2 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other

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

4 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to

5 this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in

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

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

8 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

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

10 support staffs).

11 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

12 Discovery Material in this Action.

4.13 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.

4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated

as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from

a Producing Party.

5. 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

1 Material at trial.

2 6. DURATION

3 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as

4 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced

5 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all

6 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by

7 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance

8 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause”

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

10 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the

11 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial.

12 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

7.1 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 protection only those parts of

material, documents, items or oral or written communications that qualify so that

other portions of the material, documents, 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

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

1 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this

2 Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that

3 qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the

4 material is disclosed or produced.

5 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

7 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that

8 the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter

9 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only

10 a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also

11 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings

12 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 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 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 identifies the

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

all protected testimony.

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

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

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

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

5 portion(s).

6 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure

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

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

9 Upon timely correction of a designation, the

10 Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated

11 in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

12 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

8.1. 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.

8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution

process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq.

8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint

stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2.

8.4 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.

9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

3 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a

4 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL

5 DISPOSITION).

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

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

8 authorized under this Order.

9 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise

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

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

12 (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

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

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

1 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they

2 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the

3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit

4 A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court.

5 Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that

6 reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not

7 be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order;

8 and

9 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel,

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

11 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED

12 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

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 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the

subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s

1 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions

2 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a

3 Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court.

4 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE

5 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

12 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.

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

may 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

1 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense

2 of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.

3 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

9 or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this

10 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an

11 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A.

12 13. 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.

14. MISCELLANEOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected

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

6 filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific

7 Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied

8 by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record

9 unless otherwise instructed by the court.

10 15. FINAL DISPOSITION

11 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within

12 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 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are

entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition,

and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial

exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work

product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies

that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order

1 16. VIOLATION

2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures

3 || including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.

IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

° STRATEGIC LEGAL PRACTICES,

6 APC

DATED: January 30, 2026 LY Elizabeth Larocgue

TIONNA CARVALHO

9 ELIZABETH LAROCQUE

Attorneys for Plaintiff,

BRIAN VELAZQUEZ

PARK LAWLESS & TREMONTI LLP

DATED: January 30, 2026 /s/ Steven Park

Is STEVEN D. PARK

16 VINCENT TREMONTI

V7 Attorneys for Defendant,

18 FCA US, LLC

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

21 .

59 || DATED: 2/2/2026 LEP a

CHARLES F. EICK

23 United States 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 ___________ in the case of Brian Velazquez v. FCA US,

LLC, et. al., United States Central District of California Case No. 2:25-cv-10389-

JFW-E. 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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