1 NCrIaCigH MO.L NAiSch &ol aTsO (SMBANS 1E7V84IC44, )L LP 2 Alex Tomasevic (SBN 245598) 225 Broadway, 19th Floor 3 San Diego, California 92101 Tel: (619) 325-0492 4 Fax: (619) 325-0496 Email: [email protected] 5 Email: [email protected]

6 WINTERS & ASSOCIATES Jack B. Winters, Jr. (SBN 82998) 7 Georg M. Capielo (SBN 245491) Sarah Ball (SBN 292337) 8 8489 La Mesa Boulevard La Mesa, California 91942 9 Tel: (619) 234-9000 Fax: (619) 750-0413 10 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 11 Email: [email protected]

12 Attorneys for Plaintiff LAWANDA D. SMALL, and on Behalf of the Class 13

14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

15 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

16 LAWANDA D. SMALL, Individually, Case No.: 2:20-cv-01944-TJH-KES and on Behalf of the Class, 17 STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] Plaintiff, PROTECTIVE ORDER 18 vs. Judge: Hon. Terry J. Hatter, Jr. 19 ALLIANZ LIFE INSURANCE Magistrate: Hon. Karen E. Scott COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA, a 20 Minnesota Corporation, Action Filed: February 27, 2020

21 Defendant.

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28 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential,

3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public

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

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

6 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this

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

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

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

10 under the applicable legal principles.

11 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

12 This action is likely to involve private personal information related to life

13 insurance and life insurance applications, including, potentially, health and

14 financial information, as well as Defendant’s proprietary business practices and

15 procedures for which protection from public disclosure and from use for any

16 purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and

17 proprietary materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential

18 business or financial information, information regarding confidential business

19 practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial information

20 (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), non-public

21 communications with regulators, Departments of Insurance or other governmental

22 bodies that are intended to be kept confidential and/or are protected from

23 disclosure by statute or regulation, financial or actuarial projections, analyses, or

24 studies, information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be

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

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

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

28 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to 1 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses 2 of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their

3 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order

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

5 information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that

6 nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in

7 a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be

8 part of the public record of this case.

9 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE

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

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

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

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

14 court to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a

15 right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection

16 with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under

17 seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,

(9th Cir.

18 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,

, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002),

19 Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc.,

(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

28 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and 1 the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be 2 protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n.,

(9th Cir.

3 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be

4 filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate

5 compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the

6 requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the

7 application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration.

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

9 in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be

10 redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing,

11 omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the

12 document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in

13 their entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible.

14 4. DEFINITIONS

15 4.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit.

16 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the

17 designation of information or items under this Order.

18 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of

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

20 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) or as specified above in the

21 Good Cause Statement.

22 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as

23 their support staff).

24 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or

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

26 “CONFIDENTIAL.”

27 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless

28 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 1 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 2 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery.

3 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter

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

5 as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.

6 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action

7 and employees of a party working at the attorneys’ behest, including staff and

8 paralegals. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any

9 other outside counsel.

10 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or

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

12 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a

13 party to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have

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

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

16 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,

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

18 support staffs).

19 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or

20 Discovery Material in this Action.

21 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation

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

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

24 and their employees and subcontractors.

25 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is

26 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

27 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery

28 Material from a Producing Party. 1 5. SCOPE 2 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only

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

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

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

6 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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

8 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of

9 Protected Material at trial.

10 6. DURATION

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

12 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or

13 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively

14 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling

15 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the

16 trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,

-81

17 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in

18 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are

19 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend

20 beyond the commencement of the trial.

21 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

22 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.

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

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

25 qualifies under the appropriate standards.

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

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

28 other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for which 1 protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this 2 Order.

3 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations

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

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

6 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the

7 Designating Party to sanctions.

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

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

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

11 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in

12 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material

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

14 the material is disclosed or produced.

15 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

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

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

18 trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the

19 legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”),

20 to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the

21 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also

22 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making

23 appropriate markings in the margins).

24 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available

25 for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the

26 inspecting Party has indicated which documents it would like copied

27 and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of

28 the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 1 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 2 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must

3 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection

4 under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the

5 Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each

6 page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material

7 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must

8 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate

9 markings in the margins).

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

11 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before

12 the close of the deposition all protected testimony, or in writing within

13 thirty days of receipt of the transcript.

14 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and

15 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a

16 prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which

17 the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a

18 portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the

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

20 portion(s).

21 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent

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

23 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such

24 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make

25 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the

26 provisions of this Order.

27

28 1 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 2 8.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a

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

4 Scheduling Order.

5 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute

6 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq.

7 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a

8 joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2.

9 8.4 The Burden of Persuasion in Any Such Challenge Proceeding Shall

10 Be On The Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an

11 improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on

12 other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the

13 Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all

14 parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to

15 which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on

16 the challenge.

17 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

18 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is

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

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

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

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

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

24 DISPOSITION).

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

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

27 authorized under this Order.

28 1 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 2 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a

3 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated

4 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

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

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

7 reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Action;

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

9 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for

10 this Action;

11 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) or consultants retained by Counsel

12 of the Receiving Party and their employees to whom disclosure is

13 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the

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

15 (d) the court and its personnel;

16 (e) court reporters and their staff;

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

18 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action

19 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be

20 Bound” (Exhibit A);

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

22 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the

23 information;

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

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

26 deposing party requests that the witness sign the form attached as

27 Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any

28 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and 1 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the 2 Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed

3 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected

4 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not

5 be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated

6 Protective Order; and

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

8 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement

9 discussions.

10 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 11

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

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

14 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:

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

16 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;

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

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

19 by the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such

20 notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order;

21 and

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

23 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be

24 affected. If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the

25 Party served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any

26 information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a

27 determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued,

28 unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 1 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 2 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in

3 these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a

4 Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from

5 another court.

6 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16 confidential information, then the Party shall:

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

18 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to

19 a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;

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

21 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery

22 request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the

23 information requested; and

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

25 Non-Party, if requested.

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

27 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving

28 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 1 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 2 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject

3 to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the

4 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and

5 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.

6 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

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

8 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized

9 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a)

10 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its

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

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

13 of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the

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

15 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 16

17 The Parties agree that it is not their intention to produce or accept the

18 production of materials subject to attorney-client privilege, work product

19 protection, or any other privilege, doctrine, or immunity against disclosure

20 (collectively “Privileged Material”), and that the parties will abide by Federal Rule

21 of Evidence 502 in the event of a disclosure of Privileged Material.

22 Any Producing Party that produces Privileged Material may obtain the

23 return, destruction, or sequestration of such by notifying the Receiving Party of

24 such production and providing a privilege log for the documents, information, or

25 other material at issue. The Receiving Party thereafter shall sequester, return, or

26 destroy all copies of the Privileged Material. The Receiving Party will then not use

27 or examine the material until the claim is resolved except to the extent necessary to

28 determine that it is Privileged Material. The Receiving Party will then provide a 1 certification of counsel that all such information has been sequestered, returned or 2 destroyed within five (5) business days of being notified of such production. A

3 Receiving Party may move for an Order compelling production of the Privileged

4 Material. The Producing Party must preserve the information until the claim is

5 resolved.

6 14. MISCELLANEOUS

7 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any

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

9 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this

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

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

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

13 any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective

14 Order.

15 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any

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

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

18 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under

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

20 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.

21 15. FINAL DISPOSITION

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

23 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must

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

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

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

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

28 Receiving Party, upon request by the Producing Party, must submit a written 1 certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the 2 Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where

3 appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2)

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

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

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

7 an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing

8 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert

9 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if

10 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or

11 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in

12 Section 6 (DURATION).

13 16. VIOLATION

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

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

16

17 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

18 Respectfully submitted:

19 DATED: May 7, 2020 NICHOLAS & TOMASEVIC, LLP

20 By: /s/ Craig M. Nicholas 21 Craig M. Nicholas (SBN 178444) Alex Tomasevic (SBN 245598) 22 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 23 WINTERS & ASSOCIATES 24 Jack B. Winters, Jr. (SBN 82998) Georg M. Capielo (SBN 245491) 25 Sarah Ball (SBN 292337) Email: [email protected] 26 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 27 Attorneys for Plaintiff 28 1 | DATED: May 7, 2020 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 3 By: /s/ Stephen J. Jorden Stephen J. Jordan 4 (pro hac vice forthcoming) ne Constitution Plaza, Sth Floor 5 Hartford, Hartford 06103-1836 Tel: 860-509-8929 6 stephen.jorden @ faegredrinker.com 7 Zoé K. Wilhelm (SBN 305932) 1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500 8 Los Angeles, California 90067 Tel: (310) 203-4000 9 Fax: (310) 229-1285 10 zoe.Wilhelm @ faegredrinker.com i Attorneys for Defendant '? | FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 Nc Scotts 15 | DATED: May 7, 2020 in) □ United States Magistrate Judge 17 CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO LOCAL RULE 5-4,3.4(a)(2) 18 Pursuant to Local Rule 5-4.3.4(a)(2), Plaintiff Lawanda D. Small’s counsel 19 attests that all other signatories listed, and on whose behalf this filing is jointly 20 submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. 21 DATED: May 7, 2020 NICHOLAS & TOMASEVIC, LLP 22 23 By: /s/ Craig M. Nicholas Craig M. Nicholas (SBN 178444) Alex Tomasevic (SBN 245598) 25 26 27 28 15 2:20-cv-01944-TJH-KE STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE ORDER

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of

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

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

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

7 on [date] in the case of Small v. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America,

8 Case No. 2:20-cv-01944. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of

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

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

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

12 that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in

13 strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.

14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court

15 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this

16 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after

17 termination of this action.

18 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of

19 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and

20 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with

21 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective

22 Order.

23

24 Date: ______________________________________

25 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________

26

27 Signature: __________________________________

28 Printed name: _______________________________