The opinion
1 || Mohammad B. Shihabi (SBN 337819)
mshihabi@fordharrison.com
2 uda Aguilar
haguilar@fordharrison.com
3 awrence J. Geist 1079)
lecistie fordharnson com p
4
350 South Grand Avenue, Suite 2300
5 || Los Angeles, CA 90071
Telephone: (213) 237-2400
6 || Facsimile: (213) 237-2401
7 || Attorneys for Defendant
WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC.
8
Daniel Sorenson (SBN 149630)
9 || dan@rdlawgroup.com
nelson@rdlawgroup.com
10 vette Nelson (SB 5093)
auelson rdkis erpup sou
1] DL ROUP AP
707 Wilshire Blvd 47th Fl, Ste C7
12 || Los Angeles, CA 90017
Telephone: G 10) 640-6866
13 || Facsimile: (424) 535-1500
14 || Attorneys for Plaintiff
CHERRY LEE
15
16
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
17
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA — WESTERN DIVISION
18
19 Loe
CHERRY LEE, an individual, CASE NO. 2:24-cv-01374 MWE (CFEx)
20 Plaintiff, [Assigned to the Hon. Michael □□
21 Fitzgerald]
VS.
22
WAL-MART ASSOCIATES INC., a STIPULATION RE: ENTRY OF
23 || California Corporation; JOSE DOE, PROTECTIVE ORDER;
an individual; and DOES 1 through [PROPOSED] ORDER
24 || 100, inclusive,
25 Defendants. Complaint Filed: January 30, 2024
Trial Date: TBD
26
27 The parties have agreed to and have submitted to the Court, and for good cause
28 || shown the Court hereby enters, the following Stipulated Protective Order (the
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1 | “Order” or “Confidentiality Order”):
2
1. This Order shall govern the disclosure of materials designated as
Confidential Material in this litigation. Confidential Material, as used in this Order,
4
shall refer to any document or item designated as Confidential or Highly Confidential
5 . . .
— Attorneys’ Eyes Only, including but not limited to, documents or items produced
during discovery, all copies thereof, and the information contained in such material.
7 . . .
Nothing in this Order shall require any party to produce any specific documents or
8 . . . .
category of documents which a party deems inappropriate for production.
9
Definitions of Confidential Material
10 . . . . . .
2. Confidential Material, as used in this Order, consists of the following
11 . . .
materials and categories of materials:
12
a. Materials relating to any privileged, confidential, or
13 nonpublic information, including, but not limited to, trade
secrets, research, design, development, financial, technical,
14 marketing, planning, personal, or commercial information,
as such terms are used in the Federal Rules of Civil
15 Procedure (Fed. R. Civ.) and any applicable case law
interpreting Fed. R. Civ. 36(c\ ING): contracts; non-public
16 compilations of retail prices; Proprietary information;
vendor agreements; personne _ files; claim/litigation
17 information; and nonpublic policies and procedures shall
be deemed Confidential.
18 b. Materials containing corporate trade secrets, nonpublic
research and development data, including, but not limited
19 to, cost data, pricing formulas, inventory management
programs, and other sales or business information not
20 nown to the public; information obtained from a non-
party pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement, _and
21 customer-related Protected Data shall be deemed Highly
Confidential — Attorneys’ Eyes Only.
22
c. Protected Data shall refer to any. information that a party
23 believes in good faith to be su ject to federal, state or
foreign data protection laws or other privacy obligations.
24 Examples of such data protection laws include but are not
limited to The Gramm- cach-Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6801
25 et seq. (financial information); and, The Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act and the regulations
26 thereunder, 45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and E of Part
164 (medical information). Certain Protected Data may
27 compel alternative or additional protections beyond those
afforded Highly Confidential — Attorneys’ Eyes Only
28 material, in which event the parties shall meet and confer
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ORNEYS AT LAW ty
1 in good faith, and, if unsuccessful, shall move the Court for
appropriate relief.
2
3 The parties shall not designate as confidential information that is already publi
4 || knowledge.
5 3. The parties agree that such Confidential Material as described in
6 || paragraph 2 should be given the protection of an order of this Court to prevent injury
7 || through disclosure to persons other than those persons involved in the prosecution or
g || defense of this litigation.
9 Procedure for Designating Information as Confidential
10 4. To designate information as confidential, the producing party shall mark
11 || Confidential Material with the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY
12 || CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” Parties shall submit
13 || confidential discovery responses, such as answers to interrogatories or answers to
14 || requests for admissions, in a separate document stamped with the appropriate legend
15 || designating those responses as Confidential Material. The Receiving Party may make
16 || copies of Confidential Material and such copies shall become subject to the same
17 || protections as the Confidential Material from which those copies were made.
18 a. Information on a disk or other electronic format (c. g..a
native format production) may be designated confidential
19 by marking the storage medium itself for the native file’s
title) with the legen “CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY
20 CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.” The
Receiving Party shall mark any hard-copy printouts and the
21 storage medium of any permissible copies of such
electronic material with the corresponding legend
22 contained on the original and such copies shall become
subject to the same protections, as the Confidential
23 Material from which those copies were made.
b. Information disclosed at any deposition of a party taken
24 in this action may be designated by the party as confidential
indicating on the record at the deposition that the
25 information 1s confidential and subject to the provisions of
this Order. Alternatively, the party may_ designate
26 information disclosed at the deposition as confidential by
notifying the court reporter and other parties in writing,
27 within fifteen (15) business days of receipt of the transcript,
of the specific pages and lines of the transcript which are
28 designated as confidential. The parties may agree to a
reasonable extension of the 15-business-day period for
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ORNEYS qq
1 designation. Designations of transcripts will apply to
audio, video, or other recordings of the testimony. uring
2 such 15-business-day period, the entire transcript sha
receive confidential treatment. Upon such designation, the
3 court reporter and each patty shall affix _ the
“CONFIDENTIAL” or “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL —
4 ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” legend to the designated
pages and segregate them as appropriate.
5
6 5. A producing party may change the confidentiality designation of
7 || materials it has produced, as follows: (1) The producing party must give the receiving
g || parties notice of the change by identifying the documents or information at issue.
g || Once notice is given, the receiving party must make good-faith efforts to ensure that
10 || the documents or information are accorded treatment under the new designation. (2)
11 || Within a reasonable period after giving notice, the producing party must reproduce
12 || the documents or information in a format that contains the new designation. (3) If
13 || such information has been disclosed to persons not qualified pursuant to paragraph(s)
14 || (12-13) below, the party who disclosed such information shall (a) take reasonable
15 || efforts to retrieve previously disclosed Confidential Material; (b) advise such persons
16 || that the material is Confidential; and (c) give the producing party written assurance
17 || that steps (a) and (b) have been completed.
18 Data Security
19 6. The Parties agree to provide adequate security to protect data produced
20 || by the other party(ies) or by non-parties. This includes secure data storage systems,
21 || established security policies, and security training for employees, contractors and
22 || experts. Adequate security also includes such measures as data encryption in transit,
23 || data encryption at rest, data access controls, and physical security, whether
24 || hosted/outsourced to a vendor or on premises. At a minimum, any receiving party
25 || subject to the terms of this Confidentiality Order, will provide reasonable measures
26 || to protect non-client data consistent with the American Bar Association Standing
27 || Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Formal Opinion 477R.
ag | ///
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ORNEYS AT LAW
1 Clawback Provisions
2 7. The production of privileged or work-product protected documents,
3 || electronically stored information (ESI) or information, whether inadvertent or
4 || otherwise, is not a waiver of the privilege or protection from discovery in this case
5 || or in any other federal or state proceeding.
6 8. This Order shall be interpreted to provide the maximum protection
7 || allowed by Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 502(d) and shall be enforceable and
8 || granted full faith and credit in all other state and federal proceedings by 28 U.S. Code
9 | § 1738. In the event of any subsequent conflict of law, the law that is most protective
10 || of privilege and work product shall apply.
11 9. Nothing contained herein is intended to or shall serve to limit a party’s
12 || right to conduct a review of documents, ESI or information (including metadata) for
13 || relevance, responsiveness and/or segregation of privileged and/or protected
14 || information before production.
15 10. Ifthe receiving party has reason to believe that a produced document or
16 || other information may reasonably be subject to a claim of privilege, then the
17 || receiving party shall immediately sequester the document or information, cease using
18 || the document or information and cease using any work product containing the
19 || information, and shall inform the producing party of the beginning BATES number
20 || of the document or, if no BATES number is available, shall otherwise inform the
21 || producing party of the information.
22 11. <A producing party must give written notice to any receiving party
23 || asserting a claim of privilege, work-product protection, or other ground for
24 || reclaiming documents or information (a “clawback request’). After a clawback
25 || request is received, the receiving party shall immediately sequester the document (if
26 || not already sequestered) and shall not review or use that document, or any work
27 || product containing information taken from that document, for any purpose. The
28 || parties shall meet and confer regarding any clawback request.
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1 || Who May Receive Confidential and Highly Confidential Information
2 12. Confidential Material. Any Confidential Material and the information
3 || contained therein shall be disclosed only to the Court, its staff, in-house counsel and
4 || outside counsel of record for each party, and also shall be disclosed on a need-to-
5 || know basis only to the parties, counsel’s staff personnel, employees of a party to
6 || whom disclosure is necessary in connection with the preparation for and trial of this
7 || action, and any witnesses in the case (including consulting and testifying experts) as
8 || may from time to time reasonably be necessary in prosecution or defense of this
9 || action.
10 13. Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only Material. Material and
11 |) information designated as “Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only” shall only
12 || be disclosed to the Court, its staff, in-house and outside counsel of record for each
13 || party, the secretarial, clerical, and paralegal staff of each, and consulting and
14 || testifying experts retained by a party in this action.
15 14. Restriction on Disclosure to Direct Competitors. Notwithstanding the
16 || foregoing, Confidential Material shall not be disclosed to any current or former
17 || employees of, or current or former consultants, advisors, or agents of, a direct
18 || competitor of any party named in the litigation. Ifa Receiving Party is in doubt about
19 || whether a particular entity is a direct competitor of a party named in this lawsuit, then
20 || before disclosing any Confidential Material to a current or former employee,
21 || consultant, advisor, or agent of that entity, the Receiving Party’s counsel must confer
22 || with counsel for the Producing Party.
23 15. Persons Receiving Confidential Information Must Sign Exhibit A.
24 || Counsel for each party shall advise all persons to whom Confidential Material is
25 || disclosed pursuant to this Order of the existence of this Order and shall provide all
26 || such persons (other than the Court and its staff) with a copy of this Order. Counsel
27 || shall also require such persons to execute the Affidavit attached as Exhibit A, prior
28 || to the disclosure of Confidential Material.
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1 16. Duties in the Event of Unauthorized Disclosures. It shall be the
2 || obligation of counsel, upon learning of any unauthorized disclosure or threatened
3 || unauthorized disclosure of Confidential Information, or any other breach or
4 || threatened breach of the provisions of this Order, to promptly notify counsel for the
5 || Producing Party. The notification shall be supplemented with reasonable details of
6 || the circumstances of the disclosure in order to permit the producing party to
7 || understand and take appropriate steps. Each party and its counsel agree to take
8 || reasonable and good-faith efforts to contain or limit any breach promptly upon
9 || receiving notice of it, and to make reasonable and good-faith attempts to retrieve any
10 || unauthorized disclosure of documents or information. This provision does not limit
11 |) the producing party’s entitlement to damages resulting from any breach of this Order.
12 Authorized Uses of Confidential Material
13 17. Confidential Material shall only be used for the purpose of litigating the
14 || above-captioned lawsuit and may not be used in other lawsuits.
15 18. Persons having knowledge of Confidential Material and information
16 |) due to their participation in the conduct of this litigation shall use such knowledge
17 || and information only as permitted herein, and shall not disclose such Confidential
18 || Material, their contents or any portion or summary thereof to any person(s) not
19 || involved in the conduct of this litigation.
20 19. If any person having access to the Confidential Material herein shall
21 || violate this Order, he/she may be subject to sanctions by the Court and may be liable
22 || to pay for the damages caused by his/her violation.
23 Challenges to the Designation of Confidential Material
24 20. Any party or interested member of the public may move the Court to
25 || modify the designation of any documents or information produced in this litigation
26 || (either to include additional protection with respect to confidentiality or to remove a
27 || confidential designation). Before making such a motion, the party or an interested
28 || member of the public shall first attempt to resolve such dispute with the producing
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1 || party’s counsel, pursuant to the resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq.
2 || Pending resolution of any challenges to the designation of documents or information,
3 || the material at issue shall continue to be treated as Confidential Material until ordered
4 || otherwise by the Court. The burden shall be on the party seeking to modify the
5 || designation to show that the producing party’s designation 1s inappropriate.
6 Withholding of Information
7 21. Non-relevant Attachments. The parties will not produce non-relevant
8 || attachments that are attached to relevant emails. When an attachment is withheld,
9 || either for privilege or non-responsiveness, the producing party shall produce a one-
10 || page TIFF image or searchable PDF in place of the withheld attachment,
11 || correspondingly stating “Attachment Withheld-Privileged” or “Attachment
12 || Withheld-Nonresponsive”, and bearing a sequential BATES number within the
13 || family BATES range. If any attachment to an email contains responsive content,
14 || then the cover email shall be produced for context, regardless of the cover email’s
15 || responsiveness. The cover email may be redacted in part to remove sensitive
16 || information, as described below.
17 22. Redactions. The parties may redact (1) information that is privileged or
18 || protected from discovery as work product or by reason of any other applicable
19 || privilege or immunity; (2) information subject to non-disclosure obligations imposed
20 || by governmental authorities, law or regulation (e.g., protected personal information);
21 || and (3) sensitive, non-relevant information, including but not limited to personally
22 || identifiable information, trade secrets, or information regarding products, data, or
23 || people. Privilege redactions will state, over the redacted portion, “Redacted-
24 || Privileged,” and all other redactions will state, “Redacted—Nonresponsive.”
25 || Redactions of emails will not redact the names of recipients or the subject line of the
26 || emails, unless the subject line is itself privileged or contains the sensitive information
27 || described above, in which case only so much of the subject line will be redacted as
28 || may be needed. The parties will produce redacted documents in TIFF format or
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°
1 || searchable PDF; or in native format for file types that do not convert well to
2 || TIFF/PDF, such as Excel files with corresponding searchable OCR text and the
3 || associated metadata for the document, ensuring the redacted content is fully protected
4 || from disclosure.
5 Confidential Material In Filings, Hearings, and Trial
6 23. Confidential Material in Filings. Without written permission from the
7 || Producing Party or court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested
8 || persons, a party may not file Confidential Material in the public record in this action
9 || (or in any other action, such as an appeal). A party that seeks to file under seal any
10 || Confidential Material must comply with the relevant Federal rules and Local Rules
11 || of Court. Confidential Material may only be filed under seal in a manner prescribed
12 || by the Court for such filings. Pursuant to Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald’s individual
13 || rules, a separate and additional showing of good cause as to each category of
14 || document or information is required. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c); Phillips ex rel. Estates
15 || of Byrd v. General Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1212 (9th Cir. 2002). If confidential
16 || materials are included in any papers to be filed in Court, such papers shall be
17 || accompanied by an application, pursuant to Local Civil Rule 79-5.1, to file the papers
18 |) — or the confidential portion thereof — under seal.
19 24. Manner of Sealing. In the event Confidential Materials or portions of
20 || transcripts are sealed as confidential by the Court or as described in paragraph (23)
21 || above, they shall be filed in an envelope bearing the following designation when
22 || deposited:
23 CONFIDENTIAL
24 IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONFIDENTIALITY
25 ENVELOPE SHALL” BE ~~ TREATED. AS
26 PERSON OTHER THAN. THE COURT, ATTORNEYS
TN THIS CARE, OR TO PERSONS ASSISTING THOSE
28
25. Confidential Material in Hearings and Trial. The provisions of this
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1 || Order shall not affect, and this Order does not limit, the admissibility of Confidential
2 || Material (or references to that material) as evidence at trial, or during a hearing or
3 || similar proceeding in this action. Prior to using Confidential Material or the
4 || information contained therein at any hearing that is open to the public, the party
5 || seeking to use the Confidential Material must give at least seven (7) days advance
6 || notice to the producing party of the intent to use the Confidential Material so that the
7 || producing party may seek an appropriate Court Order to protect the Confidential
8 || Material.
9 Continuing Effect of this Order and Duty to Destroy
10 26. This Order shall continue to be binding throughout and after the
11 | conclusion of this litigation, including all appeals. Within thirty (30) days of
12 |) settlement or final adjudication, including the expiration or exhaustion of all rights
13 || to appeal or petitions for extraordinary writs, each party or non-party to whom any
14 || materials were produced shall, without further request or direction from the
15 || Producing Party, promptly destroy all documents, items or data received including,
16 || but not limited to, copies or summaries thereof, in the possession or control of any
17 || expert or employee. This requirement to destroy includes all documents, not only
18 || those documents designated as Confidential Material. The Receiving Party shall
19 || submit a written certification to the Producing Party by the 30-day deadline that (1)
20 || confirms the destruction/deletion of all Confidential Material, including any copies
21 || of Confidential Materials provided to persons required to execute Exhibit A
22 || (Affidavit), and (2) affirms the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts,
23 || compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the
24 || Confidential Material. Notwithstanding this provision, outside counsel is entitled to
25 || retain an archival copy of filings, depositions, and deposition exhibits.
26 || Procedure if Confidential Material Is Required to be Produced
27 27. If any person receiving documents covered by this Order is served with
28 || a subpoena, order, interrogatory, or document or civil investigative demand
& HARRISON
1 || (collectively, a “Demand”’) issued in any other action, investigation, or proceeding,
2 || and such Demand seeks material that was produced or designated as Confidential
3 || Material by someone other than the Receiving Party, the Receiving Party shall give
4 || prompt written notice by hand or electronic transmission within five (5) business
5 || days of receipt of such Demand to the party or non-party who produced or designated
6 || the material as Confidential Material, and shall object to the production of such
7 || materials on the grounds of the existence of this Order. At the request of the party or
8 || non-party who produced or designated the material as Confidential Material, the
9 || Receiving Party shall refuse to comply with the Demand unless (a) ordered to do so
10 |) by a court with jurisdiction over the Receiving Party; or (b) released in writing by the
11 |) party or non-party who designated the material as Confidential Material. The burden
12 || of opposing the enforcement of the Demand shall fall upon the party or non-party
13 || who produced or designated the material as Confidential Material. Compliance by
14 || the Receiving Party with any order of a court of competent jurisdiction, directing
15 |) production of any Confidential Material, shall not constitute a violation of this Order.
16 Application of this Order to Productions by Third Parties
17 28. This Order may be used by third parties producing documents in
18 || connection with this action. Third parties may designate information as Confidential
19 || or Highly Confidential — Attorneys’ Eyes Only.
20 29. □□□ third party produces (or intends to produce) documents and does not
21 || designate (or does not intend to designate) those documents as Confidential Material,
22 || then any party to this action may seek to designate that third party’s documents or
23 || categories of documents as Confidential Material. In that case, it will be the burden
24 || of the party seeking protected status to move for a court order designating the
25 || materials as Confidential Material after the parties confer.
26 30. In the event additional parties join or intervene in this litigation, the
27 || newly joined party(ies) shall not have access to Confidential Material until its/their
28 || counsel has executed and, at the request of any party, filed with the Court the
1 || agreement of such party(ies) and such counsel to be fully bound by this Order.
2 31. The parties agree that nothing in this Order shall be deemed to limit the
3 || extent to which counsel for the parties may advise or represent their respective
4 || clients, conduct discovery, prepare for trial, present proof at trial, including any
5 || document designated Confidential Material as set forth herein, or oppose the
6 || production or admissibility of any information or documents which have been
7 || requested.
8 32. This Order shall remain in full force and effect until such time as it is
9 || modified, amended, or rescinded by the Court.
10
"1 Dated: May 7, 2024 Respectfully submitted,
FORD & HARRISON LLP
12
By:_/s/ Mohammad B. Shihabi
13 MOHAMMAD B. SHIHABI
14 HILDA AGUILAR
LAWRENCE GEIST
15 Attorney, for Defendant
WALMART INC.
16
7 Dated: May 6, 2024 Respectfully submitted,
RD LAW GROUP APC
8 Wette Nelson
19 By: Yvette Nelson (May 6, 2024 17:28 PDT)
DANIEL D. SORENSON
0 ALEXANDER DERVAL
Y VETTE NELSON
1 Attorney for Plaintiff
CHERRY LEE
22
23
24 PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.
25
°° | Dated: 5/7/24 /S/ CHARLES F. EICK
27 Honorable Charles F. Eick
28
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ORNEYS V9
1 EXHIBIT A TO STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
2
3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
4 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA — WESTERN DIVISION
5
6 || CHERRY LEE, an individual, CASE NO. 2:24-cv-01374 MWF (CPEX)
[Assigned to the Hon. Michael VW
7 Plaintiff, itzgerald]
8 VS. AFFIDAVIT OF COMPLIANCE
WITH STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
9 || WAL-MART ASSOCIATES INC.,a | ORDER
California Corporation; JOSE DOE,
10 |) an individual; and DOES 1 through
4 100, inclusive,
Defendants. Complaint Filed: January 30, 2024
12 Trial Date: TBD
13
AFFIDAVIT OF COMPLIANCE WITH
14
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
15
1. My name is I live at
16
. | am working on behalf (or at the direction and
17
engagement) of
18
2. I am aware that a Confidentiality Order has been entered in the above-
19
captioned lawsuit. A copy of this Confidentiality Order has been given to me, and I
20
have read and understand the provisions of same.
21
3. I acknowledge that documents and information designated as confidential
22
and/or highly confidential pursuant to such Confidentiality Order (“Confidential
23
Materials’’) are being disclosed to me only upon the conditions that I agree (a) to be
24
subject to the jurisdiction of this Court, and (b) to comply with that Order. I hereby
25
agree to abide by such Order, subject to all penalties prescribed therein, including
26
contempt of Court, for disobedience of said Order. I promise that the documents and
27
information given confidential treatment under the Confidentiality Order entered in
28
|| this case will be used by me only to assist counsel for the parties in preparing for
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ORNEYS 192
1 | litigation of the above-captioned matter. I understand that any use of such
2 || Confidential Material in any manner contrary to the provisions of the Confidentiality
3 || Order may subject me to the sanctions of this Court for contempt and to liability for
4 || any damages caused by my breach of the Confidentiality Order.
5 4. I shall not disclose nor permit to be reviewed or copied said Confidential
6 || Materials, or any information derived from, by any person other than the parties and
7 || counsel for the parties or members of their staff.
8 5. Within 30 days after the above-captioned lawsuit ends in a final non-
9 || appealable order, I agree to destroy all Confidential Materials in my possession.
10
11 || Dated: Acknowledged, Understood, and Agreed to:
12
13 By:
14
15
Name:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
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1A