Opinion

Court: District Court, C.D. California
Filed: Mar 9, 2026
Cited by: 0 cases
Authority: More cited than 41.4%

The opinion

1 Tionna Carvalho (SBN 299010)

tcarvalho@slpattorney.com

Elizabeth Larocque (SBN 219977)

3 elarocque@slpattorney.com

Strategic Legal Practices, APC

1888 Century Park East, 19th Floor

5 Los Angeles, CA 90067

Telephone: (310) 929-4900

Facsimile: (310) 943-3838

7 Attorneys for Plaintiff,

MARYAM BALOUCH

9 Steven D. Park (SBN 215219)

spark@parklawless.com

Vincent Tremonti (SBN 301571)

11 vtremonti@parklawless.com

PARK LAWLESS & TREMONTI LLP

515 S. Flower Street, 18th Floor

13 Los Angeles, CA 90071

Telephone: (213) 640-3770

Facsimile: (213) 640-3015

15 Attorney for Defendant,

FCA US, LLC

17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MARYAM BALOUCH, Case No. 8:25-cv-01209-FWS-KES

Plaintiff,

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE

22 v. ORDER

FCA US, LLC, et al.

25 Defendants.

1. 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 pursuing 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

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

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

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

10 applicable legal principles.

11 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

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

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

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

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

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

17 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding

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

19 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third

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

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

22 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of

23 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of

24 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep

25 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of

26 such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling

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

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

designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential,

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

record of this case.

3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal

must be provided by declaration.

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 4. DEFINITIONS

11 4.1 Action: Maryam Balouch vs. FCA US, LLC; Case No. 8:25-cv-01209-FWS-

12 KES

13 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of

14 information or items under this Order.

15 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it

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

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

18 Cause Statement.

19 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their

20 support staff).

21 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items

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

23 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the

24 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among

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

26 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.

27 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

4.8 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.

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

legal entity not named as a Party to this action.

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

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

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

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

10 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

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

12 support staffs).

13 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

14 Discovery Material in this Action.

15 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support

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

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

18 and their employees and subcontractors.

19 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated

20 as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

21 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from

22 a Producing Party.

23 5. SCOPE

24 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only

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

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

27 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or

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

and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected

Material at trial.

6. DURATION

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

CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

15 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each

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

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

18 under the appropriate standards.

19 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of

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

21 other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for which

22 protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.

23 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations

24 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper

25 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose

26 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating

27 Party to sanctions.

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

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

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

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

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

material is disclosed or produced.

7 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 in the margins).

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

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

17 which documents it would like copied and produced.

18 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available

19 for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has

20 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must

21 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this

22 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must

23 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material.

24 If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing

25 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate

26 markings in the margins).

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

all protected testimony.

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

7 portion(s).

8 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure

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

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

11 Upon timely correction of a designation, the

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

13 in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

14 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

15 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation

16 of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order.

17 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution

18 process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq.

19 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint

20 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2.

21 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the

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

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

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

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

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

27 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

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

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

8 DISPOSITION).

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

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

11 authorized under this Order.

12 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise

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

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

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

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

17 disclose the information for this Action;

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

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

20 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom

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

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

23 (d) the court and its personnel;

24 (e) court reporters and their staff;

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

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

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

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 A hereto; and (2) they

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

“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit

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

8 Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that

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

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

11 and

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

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

14 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED

15 IN OTHER LITIGATION

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

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

18 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

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

20 include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

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

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

23 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of

24 this Stipulated Protective Order; and

25 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued

26 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the

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

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

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.

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

8 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

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

20 with a Non-Party;

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

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

23 description of the information requested; and

24 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party,

25 if requested.

26 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14

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

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.

12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE

16 PROTECTED MATERIAL

17 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain

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

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

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

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

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

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

24 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the

25 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted

26 to the court.

27 14. MISCELLANEOUS

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

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.

7 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected

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

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

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

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

12 unless otherwise instructed by the court.

13 15. FINAL DISPOSITION

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

15 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must

16 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used

17 in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts,

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

19 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the

20 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if

21 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that

22 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was

23 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any

24 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or

25 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are

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

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

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

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

as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION).

16. VIOLATION

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

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

8 |/IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

10 STRATEGIC LEGAL PRACTICES,

APC

DATED: March 5, 2026 /s/ Elizabeth Larocque

13 TIONNA CARVALHO

4 ELIZABETH LAROCQUE

Attorneys for Plaintiff

15 MARYAM BALOUCH

PARK LAWLESS & TREMONTI LLP

|| DATED: March 5, 2026 /s/ Steven D. Park

19 STEVEN D. PARK

70 VINCENT TREMONTI

Attorneys for Defendant,

21 FCA US, LLC

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

25 ||DATED: March 9, 2026 4 an) Scot

2% Karen E. Scott

United States Magistrate Judge

1 EXHIBIT A

2 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 Maryam Balouch vs. FCA

US, LLC; Case No. 8:25-cv-01209-FWS-KES. 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

21 of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement

22 of this Stipulated Protective Order.

24 Date: ________________________

25 City and State where sworn and signed:

26 Printed name:

27 Signature:

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