Timothy Espinoza v. Santa Ana Police Department

United States District Court for the Central District of California

Timothy Espinoza v. Santa Ana Police Department

Trial Court Opinion

1 HUMBERTO GUIZAR-STATE BAR NO. 125769 GUIZAR, HENDERSON & CARRAZCO, L.L.P. 2 3500 West Beverly Boulevard Montebello, CA 90640 3 Tel: (323) 725-1151 Fax: (323) 597-0101 4 [email protected] 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff Timothy Espinoza 6 JILL WILLIAMS-STATE BAR NO. 221793 7 EDWARD S. WELLS-STATE BAR NO. 321696 CARPENTER, ROTHANS & DUMONT 8 500 South Grand Avenue, 19th Floor Los Angeles, California 90071 9 (213) 228-0400 (213) 228-0401 (Fax) 10 [email protected] ; [email protected] 11 Attorneys for Defendants Detective E. Solorio, Detective N. Lopez, Officer G. Beaumarchais, Officer E. Martinez, 12 Detective D. Fernandez, Detective M. Lemmon, Detective D. Thai, and Detective A. Garcia 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 15 16 TIMOTHY ESPINOZA, Case No. SACV 19-1277-JLS (AGR) 17 Plaintiffs, 18 vs. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 19 SANTA ANA POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., 20 Defendants. 21 22 I. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 23 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 24 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 25 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 26 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 27 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 28 1 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 2 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 3 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth 4 in Section XIII(C), below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle 5 them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth 6 the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 7 party seeks permission from the Court to file material under seal. 8 II. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 9 This lawsuit arises out of the officer-involved shooting of plaintiff Timothy 10 Espinoza on September 28, 2017. Following the shooting, the Orange County 11 District Attorney’s (“OCDA”) office conducted an investigation into the shooting. 12 The OCDA’s investigative report concerning the shooting contains numerous 13 police reports, witness statements, reports of evidence analysis prepared by the 14 Orange County Crime Lab, and numerous audio recordings, among other items 15 (collectively, “OCDA Report”). Similarly, the Santa Ana Police Department 16 (“SAPD”) also investigated the shooting. The SAPD’s investigative report 17 concerning the shooting contains numerous police reports, photographs, witness 18 statements, and audio recordings, among other items (collectively, “SAPD 19 Report”). Special protection of these documents from public disclosure and from 20 use for any purpose other than the prosecution, defense, and attempted settlement 21 of this action is warranted. Public disclosures of such confidential and proprietary 22 materials and information, information otherwise generally unavailable to the 23 public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under 24 state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law, would erode 25 the effectiveness of internal investigations, violate officer privacy, degrade the 26 trust of officers in the SAPD, and degrade officer morale. Accordingly, to 27 expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes 28 over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 1 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 2 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of 3 trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of 4 justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the 5 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 6 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it 7 has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause 8 why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 9 III. DEFINITIONS 10 A. Action: This pending federal lawsuit 11 B. Challenging Party: A Party or Non-Party that challenges the 12 designation of information or items under this Order. 13 C. “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information (regardless of 14 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 15 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 16 the Good Cause Statement. 17 D. Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 18 their support staff). 19 E. Designating Party: A Party or Non-Party that designates information 20 or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 F. Disclosure or Discovery Material: All items or information, 23 regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 24 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are 25 produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 26 G. Expert: A person with specialized knowledge or experience in a 27 matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to 28 serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 1 H. House Counsel: Attorneys who are employees of a party to this 2 Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 3 outside counsel. 4 I. Non-Party: Any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, 5 or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 J. Outside Counsel of Record: Attorneys who are not employees of a 7 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action 8 and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law 9 firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. To the 10 extent that plaintiff is pro se, plaintiff is considered Outside Counsel of Record. 11 K. Party: Any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 12 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 13 support staffs). 14 L. Producing Party: A Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 15 Discovery Material in this Action. 16 M. Professional Vendors: Persons or entities that provide litigation 17 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 18 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 19 and their employees and subcontractors. 20 N. Protected Material: Any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 21 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 O. Receiving Party: A Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 23 Material from a Producing Party. 24 IV. SCOPE 25 A. The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 26 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 27 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 28 1 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 2 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 3 B. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders 4 of the trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 5 V. DURATION 6 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as 7 confidential or maintained pursuant to this Protective Order becomes public and 8 will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, 9 unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed 10 otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City 11 and County of Honolulu,

447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81

(9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing 12 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 13 “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court 14 record). Accordingly, the terms of this Protective Order do not extend beyond the 15 commencement of the trial. 16 VI. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 A. Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for 18 Protection 19 1. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for 20 protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific 21 material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party 22 must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 23 oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 24 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not 25 swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 26 2. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. 27 Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an 28 improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process 1 or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 2 Designating Party to sanctions. 3 3. If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items 4 that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating 5 Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 6 designation. 7 B. Manner and Timing of Designations 8 1. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, e.g., Section B(2)(b) 9 below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material 10 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 11 the material is disclosed or produced. 12 2. Designation in conformity with this Order requires the following: 13 a. For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 14 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 15 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 16 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 17 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 18 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 19 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 20 b. A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available 21 for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting 22 Party has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During 23 the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 24 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 25 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 26 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 27 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must 28 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. 1 If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 2 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 3 appropriate markings in the margins). 4 c. For testimony given in depositions, that the Designating Party 5 identify the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 6 deposition all protected testimony. 7 d. For information produced in form other than document and for 8 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 9 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 10 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 11 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 12 protected portion(s). 13 C. Inadvertent Failure to Designate 14 1. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate qualified 15 information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right 16 to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of 17 a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the 18 material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 19 VII. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 20 A. Timing of Challenges 21 Any party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of confidentiality at 22 any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 23 B. Meet and Confer 24 1. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process 25 under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 26 C. Burden of Persuasion in a Challenge Proceeding 27 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 28 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 1 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 2 expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has 3 waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to 4 afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under 5 the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 6 VIII. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 A. Basic Principles 8 1. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 9 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only 10 for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected 11 Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 12 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 13 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of Section XIV below. 14 2. Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving 15 Party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the 16 persons authorized under this Order. 17 B. Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items 18 1. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the 19 Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information or item 20 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 21 a. The Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this 22 Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is 23 reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 24 b. The officers, directors, and employees (including House 25 Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for 26 this Action; 27 28 1 c. Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to 2 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 4 d. The Court and its personnel; 5 e. Court reporters and their staff; 6 f. Professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 7 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary or this Action 8 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to be Bound” attached 9 as Exhibit A hereto; 10 g. The author or recipient of a document containing the 11 information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the 12 information; 13 h. During their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, 14 in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (i) the 15 deposing party requests that the witness sign the “Acknowledgment and 16 Agreement to Be Bound;” and (ii) they will not be permitted to keep any 17 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 18 Be Bound,” unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the 19 Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 20 reveal Protected Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may 21 not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective 22 Order; and 23 i. Any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting 24 personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement 25 discussions. 26 IX. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUPOENAED OR ORDERED 27 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 28 1 A. If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 2 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 3 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 4 1. Promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 5 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 6 2. Promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 7 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 8 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy 9 of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 10 3. Cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by 11 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 12 B. If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 13 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in 14 this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the Court from which 15 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 16 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 17 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 18 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 19 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 20 X. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 21 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 22 A. The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 23 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 24 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 25 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 26 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 27 B. In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 28 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 1 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 2 confidential information, then the Party shall: 3 1. Promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non- 4 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 5 agreement with a Non-Party; 6 2. Promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 7 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 8 specific description of the information requested; and 9 3. Make the information requested available for inspection by the 10 Non-Party, if requested. 11 C. If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 12 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 13 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 14 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 15 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject 16 to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 17 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden 18 and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 19 XI. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 20 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 21 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 22 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (1) 23 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (2) use its 24 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (3) inform 25 the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms 26 of this Order, and (4) request such person or persons to execute the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit

28 A. 1

XII. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 2 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 4 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 5 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal 6 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 7 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for 8 production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 9 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure 10 of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or 11 work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the 12 Stipulated Protective Order submitted to the Court. 13 XIII. MISCELLANEOUS 14 A. Right to Further Relief 15 Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its 16 modification by the Court in the future. 17 B. Right to Assert Other Objections 18 By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order, no Party waives any 19 right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information 20 or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, 21 no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the 22 material covered by this Protective Order. 23 C. Filing Protected Material 24 A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply 25 with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed under seal 26 pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material 27 at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the 28 1 Court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record 2 unless otherwise instructed by the Court. 3 4 XIV. FINAL DISPOSITION 5 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in Section V, within 6 sixty (60) days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party 7 must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. 8 As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 9 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 10 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the 11 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if 12 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that 13 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 14 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any 15 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or 16 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel 17 are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, 18 deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition 19 and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert 20 work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 21 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this 22 Protective Order as set forth in Section V. 23 24 XV. REMEDIES FOR VIOLATION OF THIS ORDER 25 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 26 measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 27 sanction

28 1 || IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 3 Dated: August 12, 2020 /s/ Humberto Guizar Humberto Guizar 4 Attorney for Plaintiff Dated: May 4, 2020 /s/ Edward Wells 6 Jill Williams 7 Edward Wells Attorneys for Defendants 9 I, Edward Wells, hereby attest that all other signatories listed, and on whose 10 behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. ? 3) oe 11 □□ CELE Gp 1 2 eae 13 Edward Wells 14 15 |} FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 17 || Dated: August 20.2020 Ce dX. HONORABLE ALICIA G. ROSENBERG 18 United States Magistrate Judge 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 dN

1 EXHIBIT A ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 2

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 Timothy Espinoza v. Santa Ana Police 8 Department, et al., case no. SACV 19-1277-JLS (AGR). I agree to comply with 9 and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I 10 understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to 11 sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will 12 not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated 13 Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the 14 provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 16 Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms 17 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 18 after termination of this action. I hereby appoint 19 [print or type full name] of 20 [print or type full address and telephone number] 21 as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any 22 proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 23 Date: 24 City and State where sworn and signed: 25 Printed Name: 26 Signature: 27 28

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