JEFFREY S. WHITE, District Judge.
Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are 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, Plaintiff Reynaldo Ayala and Defendants Wagner, Schlosser, Guthrie, Faaita, and Edmonds (the "Parties") 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 and General Order 62 set 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.
Defendants assert that they will only designate materials as CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY under this Protective Order if they contain information that has been deemed confidential by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for safety and security reasons, and has been restricted from general distribution, including but not limited to inmates, parolees, and the public.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
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2.12
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. However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order.
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 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, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extensions of time pursuant to applicable law.
5.1
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) 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 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.
5.2
Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
(a)
A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the Receiving Party has indicated which material 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 — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY." After the Receiving 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 — ATTORNEYS'-EYES ONLY" 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)
(c)
5.3
6.1
6.2
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 the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain confidentiality as described above, all Parties shall continue to treat the material in question to the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party's designation until the court rules on the challenge.
7.1
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
This Protective Order is intended to and does preclude Counsel of Record from disclosing documents and information designated "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" to Plaintiff, members of Plaintiff's family, friends, or associates of Plaintiff, or to any other inmate or parolee, or to the public.
Unless otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, only the Counsel of Record (as well as support staff) of the Receiving Party may have access to and review any information or item designated "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY." It is further agreed by the Parties and ordered by the court that the information designated "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" is never to be disseminated to or discussed with any inmates, including a Party or a witness, parolee, and the public, except as otherwise provided in this section, in this case or in any other capacity, unless there is a successful challenge to such information under section 6. In the event the Receiving Party believes that information designated "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" needs to be discussed with their client or another person, Receiving Party must first contact the Designating Party to discuss disclosure of the specific record.
In addition to the above, 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 — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" only to:
(a) the Receiving Party's Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees of said Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation (as well as support staff);
(b) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(c) the court and its personnel;
(d) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A),
(e) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
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 or "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY," 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
(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 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 "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" 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.
9.1
The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this action and designated as "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY." 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.
9.2
(a) 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 litigation, 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.
(b) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this Court within 14 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 a confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.
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.
In the event the Receiving Party believes that documents labeled "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" have been viewed or obtained by persons other than Counsel of Record and their support staff, the Receiving Party must immediately: (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) identify the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 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.
12.1
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12.3
(a) Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party for destruction or destroy such material, subject to the exceptions set forth in section 13(b). 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, other than the exceptions set forth in section 13(b).
(b) Notwithstanding section 13(a), Counsel of Record 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. In addition, Counsel of Record is not required to destroy or return copies of Protected Material that may be stored on back-up tapes created in the Receiving Party's normal course of business and retained for disaster-recovery purposes. Any such archival or back-up tape copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION).