1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 NAVODNEY LEWIS, WALTER CASE NO. CV21-01089-JAK-(JPRx) HARDIN, KE’MANI JACQUES and Hon.John A. Kronstadt, Ctrm. 10B, 10th Fl. 12 KENNETH JACQUES, Mag. Jean P. Rosenbluth, Ctrm. 690, 6thFl 13 Plaintiffs, [PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE 14 v. ORDER 15 CITY OF LOS ANGELES, OFFICER 16 KIM (#44151), OFFICER CLARK (#36256), OFFICER COLLYER 17 (#27575, OFFICER CEJA (#37374), OFFICER HECHAURRIA (#43686) 18 and DOES 1 through 10 inclusive, 19 Defendant. 20 1. INTRODUCTION 21 1.1 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 22 Discovery in this action may involve production of confidential, proprietary, 23 or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from 24 use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 25 Accordingly, the Parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 26 following Stipulated Protective Order. The Parties acknowledge that this Order 27 does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 1 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the 2 applicable legal principles. The Parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 3 12.3 below, that this Order does not entitle them to file Confidential Information 4 under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 5 and the standards that will be applied when a Party seeks permission from the Court 6 to file material under seal. 7 1.2 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 8 This action involves the City of Los Angeles (“City”), Los Angeles Police 9 Department (“LAPD”) Officer Taylor Kim, LAPD Sgt. Marquis Clark, LAPD 10 Officer John Collyer, LAPD Officer Maria Ceja, and LAPD Officer Richard 11 Hechavarria (“Defendants”). Plaintiffs are seeking materials and information that 12 Defendant City maintains as confidential, such as personnel files of the police 13 officers involved in this incident, Internal Affairs materials and information, video 14 recordings, audio recordings, information and other administrative materials and 15 information currently in the possession of the City and which Defendants believe 16 need special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other 17 than prosecuting this litigation. Plaintiffs are also seeking official information 18 contained in the personnel files of the police officers involved in the subject 19 incident, which the City maintains as strictly confidential and which Defendants 20 believe need special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose 21 other than prosecuting this litigation. 22 Defendants assert that the confidentiality of the materials and information 23 sought by Plaintiff is recognized by California and federal law, as evidenced inter 24 alia by California Penal Code section 832.7 and Kerr v. United States Dist. Ct. for 25 N.D. Cal.,

(9th Cir. 1975), aff'd,

(1976). The City 26 has not publicly released the materials and information referenced above except 27 under protective order or pursuant to a court order, if at all. These materials and 1 LAPD officers, and has been used as evidence in disciplinary proceedings, where 2 the officers’ conduct was considered to be contrary to LAPD policy. 3 Defendants contend that absent a protective order delineating the 4 responsibilities of nondisclosure on the part of the parties hereto, there is a specific 5 risk of unnecessary and undue disclosure by one or more of the many attorneys, 6 secretaries, law clerks, paralegals and expert witnesses involved in this case, as well 7 as the corollary risk of embarrassment, harassment as well as professional, physical 8 and legal harm on the part of the LAPD officers referenced in the materials and 9 information. 10 Defendants also contend that the unfettered disclosure of the materials and 11 information, absent a protective order, would allow the media to share this 12 information with potential jurors in the area, impacting the rights of the Defendants 13 herein to receive a fair trial. 14 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 15 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately 16 protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the 17 parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for 18 and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and 19 serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this 20 matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as 21 confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good 22 faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and 23 there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 24 25 2. DEFINITIONS 26 2.1 Action: this pending federal law suit. 27 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Nonparty that challenges the designation 1 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 2 how it is generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 3 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) and as specified above in the 4 Good Cause Statement. This also includes (1) any information copied or extracted 5 from the Confidential information; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries or 6 compilations of Confidential information; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 7 presentations that might reveal Confidential information. 8 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 9 their support staff). 10 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Nonparty that designates information or 11 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 13 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 14 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 15 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 16 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 17 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 18 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 19 an expert witness or as a consultant in this action. 20 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party to this Action. 21 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 22 counsel. 23 2.9 Nonparty: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 24 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 25 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 26 Party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a Party and have appeared 27 in this Action on behalf of that Party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 1 2.11 Party: any Party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 2 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 3 support staffs). 4 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Nonparty that produces Disclosure or 5 Discovery Material in this Action. 6 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 7 support services (for example, photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing 8 exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or 9 medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 10 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 11 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 12 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 13 Material from a Producing Party. 14 15 3. SCOPE 16 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 17 Protected Material (as defined above) but also any information copied or extracted 18 from Protected Material; all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 19 Protected Material; and any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or 20 their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 21 Any use of Protected Material at trial will be governed by the orders of the 22 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 23 4. DURATION 24 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 25 imposed by this Order will remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees 26 otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition is the later 27 of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this Action, with or without prejudice, 1 remands, trials, or reviews of this Action, including the time limits for filing any 2 motions or applications for extension of time under applicable law. 3 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 4 5.1 Each Party or Nonparty that designates information or items for 5 protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific 6 material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must 7 designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or 8 written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 9 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not 10 swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 11 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 12 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 13 purpose (for example, to unnecessarily encumber the case-development process or 14 to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 15 Designating Party to sanctions. 16 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items it 17 designated for protection do not qualify for that level of protection, that Designating 18 Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 19 designation. 20 5.2 Except as otherwise provided in this Order, Disclosure or Discovery 21 Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated 22 before the material is disclosed or produced. 23 Designation in conformity with this Order requires the following: 24 (a) for information in documentary form (for example, paper or electronic 25 documents but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 26 proceedings), the Producing Party must affix at a minimum the legend 27 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion 1 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (for example, by making appropriate 2 markings in the margins). 3 A Party or Nonparty that makes original documents available for 4 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 5 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 6 inspection and before the designation, all material made available for inspection 7 must be treated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 8 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 9 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 10 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 11 “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 12 portion or portions of the material on a page qualify for protection, the Producing 13 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (for example, by making 14 appropriate markings in the margins). 15 (b) for testimony given in depositions, the Designating Party must identify 16 the Disclosure or Discovery Material that is protected on the record, before the close 17 of the deposition. 18 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 19 any other tangible items, the Producing Party must affix in a prominent place on the 20 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 21 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrant 22 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, must identify the protected 23 portion(s). 24 5.3 If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate qualified 25 information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to 26 secure protection under this Order for that material. On timely correction of a 27 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the 1 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 2 6.1 Any Party or Nonparty may challenge a designation of confidentiality 3 at any time consistent with the Court’s scheduling order. 4 6.2 The Challenging Party must initiate the dispute-resolution process (and, 5 if necessary, file a discovery motion) under Local Rule 37. 6 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such proceeding is on the Designating 7 Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (for example, 8 to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), may expose 9 the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or 10 withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties must continue to afford the 11 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the 12 Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 13 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 7.1 A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 15 produced by another Party or by a Nonparty in connection with this Action only for 16 prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material 17 may be disclosed only to the categories of people and under the conditions described 18 in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply 19 with the provisions of Section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 20 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 21 location and in a manner sufficiently secure to ensure that access is limited to the 22 people authorized under this Order. 23 7.2 Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the 24 Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information or item 25 designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to the following people: 26 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 27 well as employees of that Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 1 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 2 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 3 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 4 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 5 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 6 (d) the Court and its personnel; 7 (e) court reporters and their staff; 8 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 9 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 10 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 11 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 12 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 13 (h) during their depositions, witnesses and attorneys for witnesses to 14 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary, provided that the deposing party requests 15 that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto and the witnesses will 16 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the form, 17 unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of 18 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 19 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 20 anyone except as permitted under this Order; and 21 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 22 mutually agreed on by any of the Parties engaged in settlement discussions or 23 appointed by the Court. 24 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 25 IN OTHER LITIGATION 26 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 27 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 1 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 2 must include a copy of the subpoena or court order unless prohibited by law; 3 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 4 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 5 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification must include 6 a copy of this Order; and 7 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 8 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 9 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 10 the subpoena or court order should not produce any information designated in this 11 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination on the protective-order request 12 by the relevant court unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 13 permission. The Designating Party bears the burden and expense of seeking 14 protection of its Confidential Material, and nothing in these provisions should be 15 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey 16 a lawful directive from another court. 17 9. A NONPARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 18 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 19 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 20 Nonparty in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information is 21 protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these 22 provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Nonparty from seeking additional 23 protections. 24 (b) In the event that a Party is required by a valid discovery request to 25 produce a Nonparty’s Confidential Information in its possession and the Party is 26 subject to an agreement with the Nonparty not to produce the Nonparty’s 27 Confidential Information, then the Party must 1 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Nonparty 2 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 3 agreement with a Nonparty; 4 (2) promptly provide the Nonparty with a copy of this Order, the 5 relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 6 information requested; and 7 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 8 Nonparty, if requested. 9 (c) If the Nonparty fails to seek a protective order within 21 days of 10 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 11 produce the Nonparty’s Confidential Information responsive to the discovery 12 request. If the Nonparty timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party must 13 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 14 confidentiality agreement with the Nonparty before a ruling on the protective-order 15 request. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Nonparty must bear the burden 16 and expense of seeking protection of its Protected Material. 17 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 If a Receiving Party learns that by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 19 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 20 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately notify the Designating Party in writing 21 of the unauthorized disclosures, use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized 22 copies of the Protected Material, inform the person or people to whom unauthorized 23 disclosures were made of the terms of this Order, and ask that person or people to 24 execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto 25 as Exhibit A.

26 27 1 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 2 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 protection, 5 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 6 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). 7 12. MISCELLANEOUS 8 12.1 Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its 9 modification by the Court. 10 12.2 By stipulating to the entry of this Order, no Party waives any right it 11 otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or item 12 on any ground not addressed in this Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to 13 object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this 14 Order. 15 12.3 A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must 16 comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may be filed under seal only 17 pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at 18 issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material under seal is denied, then the 19 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise 20 instructed by the Court. 21 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 22 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 23 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 24 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 25 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 26 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 27 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 1 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that identifies (by 2 category, when appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 3 destroyed and affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 4 compilations, summaries, or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 5 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an 6 archival copy of all pleadings; motion papers; trial, deposition, and hearing 7 transcripts; legal memoranda; correspondence; deposition and trial exhibits; expert 8 reports; attorney work product; and consultant and expert work product even if such 9 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 10 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Order as set forth in Section 4 11 (DURATION). 12 /// 13 /// 14 /// 15 /// 16 /// 17 /// 18 /// 19 /// 20 /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 1 14. SANCTIONS 2 Any willful violation of this Order may be punished by civil or criminal 3 contempt, financial or evidentiary sanctions, reference to disciplinary authorities, or 4 other appropriate action at the discretion of the Court. 5 6 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 7 Dated: December 9, 2021 PLC LAW GROUP, APC 8 By: /s/ Na’shaun L. Neal PETER L. CARR, IV, ESQ. 9 NA’SHAUN L. NEAL, ESQ. LAUREN K. MCRAE, ESQ. 10 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Navodney Lewis, Walte Hardin, Ke’Mani Jacques and Kenneth Jacques 11 Dated: December 9, 2021 MICHAEL N. FEUER, City Attorney 12 KATHLEEN A. KENEALY, Chief Deputy City Atty. SCOTT MARCUS, Chief Assistant City Attorney 13 CORY M. BRENTE, Senior Assistant City Attorney LISA W. LEE, Deputy City Attorney 14 By: /s/ Lisa W. Lee LISA W. LEE, Deputy City Attorney 15 Attorneys for Defendants, CITY OF LOS ANGELES, TAYLOR KIM, MARQUIS CLARK, JOHN 16 COLLYER, MARIA CEJA, AND RICHARD HECHAVARRIA 17 18 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 Dated: __1_2_/_1_3_/2_0_2_1_ /S/ 20 Honorable Jean P. Rosenbluth United States Magistrate Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ 5 [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 6 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the U.S. District Court 7 for the Central District of California on [date] in the case of Navodney Lewis, et. al 8 v. City of Los Angeles, et. al, Case No. CV21-01089-JAK-(JPRx). I agree to comply 9 with and to be bound by all terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, and I 10 understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions 11 and punishment, including contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in 12 any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 13 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 14 Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the 16 Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 17 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 18 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [full 19 name] of _______________________________________ [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 Date: ______________________________________ 24 City and State where signed: _________________________________ 25 Printed name: _______________________________ 26 27 Signature: __________________________________