Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern California Administrative Company v. DTS Enterprise, Inc.
Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern California Administrative Company v. DTS Enterprise, Inc.
Trial Court Opinion
1 ALEXANDER B. CVITAN (SBN 81746), E-Mail: [email protected] 2 J. DAVID SACKMAN (SBN 106703) E-Mail: [email protected]
MARSHA M. HAMASAKI (SBN 102720), and 3 E-Mail: [email protected] PETER A. HUTCHINSON (SBN 225399) 4 E-Mail: [email protected] REICH, ADELL & CVITAN, A Professional Law Corporation 5 330 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 250 Glendale, CA 91203 6 Telephone: (213) 386-3860; Facsimile: (2l3) 386-5583
7 Attorneys for Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern California Administrative Company, LLC 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, EASTERN DIVISION 10
11 CONSTRUCTION LABORERS TRUST CASE NO.: 5:22-cv-00867-JGB-KK FUNDS FOR SOUTHERN 12 CALIFORNIAADMINISTRATIVE COMPANY, a Delaware limited liability [PROPOSED] 13 company, ORDER GRANTING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 14 Plaintiff, ORDER
15 vs. [Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 and 26(c)]
16 D T S ENTERPRISE, INC., a California corporation also known as and doing Discovery Cut-Off: 17 business as D T S CONCRETE; LESLIE June 26, 2023 DAIN SORG, an individual; SURETEC 18 INSURANCE COMPANY, a Texas Pre-Trial Conference: corporation; QUALITY DEVELOPMENT October 30, 2023 19 AND CONSTRUCTION, INC., a California corporation; DOE 1 THROUGH DOE 10, Trial Date: 20 inclusive, November 14, 2023
21 [Hon. Kenly Kiya Kato] 22 Defendants. [NOTE CHANGES MADE BY 23 COURT]
24 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTION
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27 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff, Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern 2 || California Administrative Company, LLC and Defendant D T S Enterprise, Inc., have 3 || stipulated in writing to protect certain personal and proprietary information from 4 || improper disclosure; and 5 WHEREFORE the aforementioned stipulation as revised by the Court is 6 || memorialized and attached hereto as Exhibit “A” (the “Stipulation”); and 7 GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, the Stipulation is hereby approved, and entered g || as an Order of the Court. 9 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 12 13 || DATED: May 2, 2023 erg Hon. KenlyKiya Kato 14 UNITED TATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
1 EXHIBIT A
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27 1 ALEXANDER B. CVITAN (SBN 81746), E-Mail: [email protected] 2 J. DAVID SACKMAN (SBN 106703) E-Mail: [email protected] MARSHA M. HAMASAKI (SBN 102720), and 3 E-Mail: [email protected] PETER A. HUTCHINSON (SBN 225399) 4 E-Mail: [email protected] REICH, ADELL & CVITAN, A Professional Law Corporation 5 330 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 250 Glendale, CA 91203 6 Telephone: (213) 386-3860; Facsimile: (2l3) 386-5583 7 Attorneys for Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern California Administrative Company, LLC 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, EASTERN DIVISION 10 11 CONSTRUCTION LABORERS TRUST CASE NO.: 5:22-cv-00867-JGB-KK FUNDS FOR SOUTHERN 12 CALIFORNIAADMINISTRATIVE COMPANY, a Delaware limited liability STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 13 company, ORDER [Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 and 26(c)] 14 Plaintiff, 15 vs. Discovery Cut-Off: June 26, 2023 16 D T S ENTERPRISE, INC., a California corporation also known as and doing Pre-Trial Conference: 17 business as D T S CONCRETE; LESLIE October 30, 2023 DAIN SORG, an individual; SURETEC 18 INSURANCE COMPANY, a Texas Trial Date: corporation; QUALITY DEVELOPMENT November 14, 2023 19 AND CONSTRUCTION, INC., a California corporation; DOE 1 THROUGH DOE 10, 20 inclusive, [Hon. Kenly Kiya Kato] 21 22 Defendants. NOTE CHANGES MADE BY COURT 23 24 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTION 25 26 27 1 PURPOSE AND LIMITATIONS 2 3 Pursuant to Local Rule 7-3, counsel for Plaintiff Construction Laborers Trust 4 Funds (CLTF) and Defendant D T S Enterprise, Inc. (DTS), as well as all other 5 defendants, have met and conferred regarding Plaintiff’s proposed motion for, inter 6 alia, an Interlocutory Order Compelling an Audit, as in Central States, SE. & SW. 7 Areas Pension Fund v. Central Transp., Inc. (Central States),
472 U.S. 559,
105 S. Ct. 82833,
86 L. Ed. 2d 447(1985). While the Parties did not (yet) arrive at a resolution to 9 avoid the motion, they did agree to enter into this Stipulation for a Protective Order to 10 cover the audit of DTS’s records which have been, or may be ordered by the Court, 11 for voluntary compliance with the audit sought, as well as all discovery and 12 disclosures in this case. The Supreme Court has approved of similar protective 13 measures in Central States,
472 U.S. 559, 564 n. 5 and 559 n. 23. The Sample 14 Stipulated Protective Order of this Court does not address the unique needs of this 15 type of audit, as described below. Rather, this Stipulated Protective Order is based on 16 the one used in Constr. Laborers Tr. Funds for S. California Admin. Co. v. Ground 17 Serv. Tech., Inc. (GST), No. CV 13-414 DMG (JEMX),
2014 WL 12561599, at *8 18 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2014) (noting that, if the employer “identifies legitimate reasons 19 justifying limits on Plaintiff's audit, the Court will consider them in the event the 20 parties cannot reach a mutual agreement as to items which should be subject to a 21 protective order approved by the Magistrate Judge.”) 22 23 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 24 25 1. Plaintiff, CLTF is a fiduciary and agent for collection to certain employee 26 benefit plans (“TRUST FUNDS”) governed by the Employee Retirement Income 27 Security Act (ERISA),
29 U.S.C. §§ 1001et. seq.. 1 Defendant D T S Enterprise Inc. to produce documents in response to Plaintiff’s First 2 Set of Requests for Production of Documents Nos. 1-18 [docket no. 46] requiring 3 Defendant, D T S ENTERPRISE INC. (“DTS”) to allow access to its records 4 regarding its work, as more fully stated in that Order. In its Second Claim for Relief, 5 Plaintiff seeks a full audit of DTS’ records. If not provided voluntarily, Plaintiff may 6 seek partial summary judgment as to that claim, with an Interlocutory Order 7 Compelling Audit, as in GST, supra. 8 3. DTS is concerned about disclosure, in such audit, whether voluntary or 9 compelled, of the personal information of employees (past and present), including 10 names, addresses, social security numbers, phone numbers, and or any other 11 information as to those employees who are not beneficiaries or participants of the 12 TRUST FUNDS which is protected by law from public disclosure or unauthorized 13 used (“PERSONAL INFORMATION”). The handling of PERSONAL 14 INFORMATION, shall be governed by this Stipulated Protective Order. 15 4. It is recognized that Plaintiff has certain obligations under ERISA and 16 regulations thereunder to maintain the privacy of PERSONAL INFORMATION. At 17 the same time, such information may be relevant to this lawsuit, or included in 18 relevant material. 19 5. DTS contends, among other things, that certain documents requested by 20 TRUST FUNDS include DTS’s personal private financial information and that 21 information should be protected from disclosure to third parties and/or if deemed 22 necessary for submission to the Court as evidence should be protected from public 23 disclosure (“PROPRIETARY INFORMATION”). Without necessarily agreeing with 24 this characterization, Plaintiff agrees to observe the following safeguards as to 25 information designated as PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. 26 27 / / / 1 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 2 3 6. The following rules will apply to both PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY 4 INFORMATION: 5 a. PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY INFORMATION which is 6 included within a voluntary audit, disclosures or discovery, shall 7 not be withheld or redacted from the party to whom the disclosure 8 is made or requesting discovery. However, the party producing 9 such disclosures or discovery shall notify the party receiving them, 10 that PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY INFORMATION is 11 included, and this Protective Order applies. Such notice shall be in 12 writing, and shall specify with particularity the portions of the 13 records so designated. 14 b. Any document containing PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY 15 INFORMATION shall be subject to Rule 5.2 of the Federal Rules 16 of Civil Procedure, Local Rule 5.2, and by the orders of the trial 17 judge. Any use of protected material at trial or other court 18 hearings or proceedings shall be governed by the orders of the 19 trial judge. In accordance with the aforementioned, such 20 documents shall not be filed with this, or any other Court, or be 21 produced as exhibits at trial, unless either: 22 i. Such documents are redacted to remove the 23 PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY INFORMATION 24 from view; OR 25 ii. Such documents are filed under seal with the Court in 26 strict compliance with Local Rule 79-5; OR 27 iii. Such documents are introduced at trial subject to an 1 PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.
2 c. If a party’s request to file PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY
3 INFORMATION under seal is denied by the Court, then the
4 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record
5 unless otherwise instructed by the Court.
6 7. The following rules will apply to the handling of PERSONAL
7 INFORMATION:
8 a. It is recognized that the TRUST FUNDS have existing legal
9 obligations to preserve the privacy of PERSONAL
10 INFORMATION. The TRUST FUNDS acknowledge that this
11 shall apply to all PERSONAL INFORMATION, regardless of
12 whether it is ultimately determined that the individuals involved
13 are participants or beneficiaries of any of the TRUST FUNDS.
14 CLTF and the TRUST FUNDS shall use the PERSONAL
15 INFORMATION solely for the purposes of this lawsuit, and to
16 fulfill their duties and obligations in administering the TRUST
17 FUNDS, as well as any obligations to report or disclose
18 information to government agencies, or other disclosures required
19 by law.
20 b. After the final conclusion of this lawsuit (including any appeals),
21 any PERSONAL INFORMATION relating to individuals who it is
22 finally determined are not participants or beneficiaries of any of
23 the TRUST FUNDS, shall be either destroyed or returned to the
24 source of those documents.
25 8. The following rules will apply to the handling of PROPRIETARY
26 INFORMATION:
27 a. Any PROPRIETARY INFORMATION produced or revealed in 1 their counsel and staff, or any expert witness, witness, or other
2 third party who has agreed to be bound by this Protective Order,
3 except as required by government agencies, or by court order.
4 CLTF will not cause the documents to be distributed to any third
5 parties who are not part of or named in this lawsuit, except to
6 fulfill their duties and obligations in administering the TRUST
7 FUNDS, as well as any obligations to report or disclose
8 information to government agencies, or other disclosures required
9 by law.
10 b. Upon completion of this lawsuit, including any appeals or other
11 litigation arising therefrom, any party or third party to whom the
12 disclosure of PROPRIETARY INFORMATION has been made
13 shall either destroy such PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY
14 INFORMATION or return it to the party or third party who
15 disclosed it.
16 9. All parties to this action reserve the right to dispute the characterization
17 (or failure to characterize) any documents as PERSONAL or PROPRIETARY
18 INFORMATION. In the event that there is a dispute over such characterization, the
19 parties involved must strictly comply with Local Rules 37-1 and 37-2. In particular,
20 parties shall immediately meet and confer and, if unable to settle their differences, will
21 formulate a joint written stipulation and follow the procedures for resolving discovery
22 disputes before the Magistrate, who is authorized to rule on such disputes.
23 10. This Protective Order is binding upon each of the parties to this action,
24 counsel for each party to this action, and the respective staff, administrators,
25 fiduciaries and co-fiduciaries, officers and managing agents of each. In the event that
26 an expert witness, witness, or other third party needs to view or produce PERSONAL
27 or PROPRIETARY INFORMATION for purposes of this lawsuit, such other person 1 bound by its terms. Not until such expert witness, witness or other third party so
2 agrees, will they be required or allowed access to such PERSONAL or
3 PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.
4 11. The rules in this Protective Order are not binding on the Court and court
5 personnel, as they are subject only to the court’s internal procedures regarding the
6 handing of material filed or lodged, including material filed or lodged under seal.
7 12. The protective order shall be without prejudice to the right of any party to
8 seek a modification thereof. Any party seeking to modify or amend the protective
9 order must strictly comply with Local Rules 37-1 and 37-2. The order shall survive
10 the final termination of this action with regard to any documents produced pursuant to
11 this Protective Order.
12 13. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be constructed as an authorization
13 and/or encouragement for a party to disobey a lawful subpoena or court order issued
14 in a separate action.
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16 SO STIPULATED:
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18 DATED: May 2, 2023 ALEXANDER B. CVITAN, J. DAVID SACKMAN 19 MARSHA M. HAMASAKI, and PETER A. HUTCHINSON 20 REICH, ADELL & CVITAN A Professional Law Corporation 21 By:__/s/ J. David Sackman ________ 22 J. DAVID SACKMAN Attorneys for Plaintiff 23
24 Pursuant to L.R. 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), the above filer attests that all other signatories listed, and on whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have 25 authorized the filing.
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27 (Signatures continued on next page) 1 (Signatures, continued)
2 DATED: May 2, 2023 JOSEPH C. MCGOWAN, JR. RUBY ZAPIEN 3 ROGERS JOSEPH O’DONNELL
4 By:__/s/ Joseph C. McGowan, Jr. 5 JOSEPH C. MCGOWAN, JR. Attorneys for Defendants D T S Enterprise, Inc., 6 aka D T S Concrete; and Leslie Dain Sorg
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27 1 ALEXANDER B. CVITAN (SBN 81746), E-Mail: [email protected] 2 J. DAVID SACKMAN (SBN 106703) E-Mail: [email protected]
MARSHA M. HAMASAKI (SBN 102720), and 3 E-Mail: [email protected] PETER A. HUTCHINSON (SBN 225399) 4 E-Mail: [email protected] REICH, ADELL & CVITAN, A Professional Law Corporation 5 330 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 250 Glendale, CA 91203 6 Telephone: (213) 386-3860; Facsimile: (2l3) 386-5583
7 Attorneys for Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern California Administrative Company, LLC 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, EASTERN DIVISION 10
11 CONSTRUCTION LABORERS TRUST CASE NO.: 5:22-cv-00867-JGB-KK FUNDS FOR SOUTHERN 12 CALIFORNIAADMINISTRATIVE COMPANY, a Delaware limited liability [PROPOSED] 13 company, ORDER GRANTING STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 14 Plaintiff, ORDER
15 vs. [Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 and 26(c)]
16 D T S ENTERPRISE, INC., a California corporation also known as and doing Discovery Cut-Off: 17 business as D T S CONCRETE; LESLIE June 26, 2023 DAIN SORG, an individual; SURETEC 18 INSURANCE COMPANY, a Texas Pre-Trial Conference: corporation; QUALITY DEVELOPMENT October 30, 2023 19 AND CONSTRUCTION, INC., a California corporation; DOE 1 THROUGH DOE 10, Trial Date: 20 inclusive, November 14, 2023
21 [Hon. Kenly Kiya Kato] 22 Defendants.
23
24 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTION
25
26
27 1 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff, Construction Laborers Trust Funds for Southern
2 California Administrative Company, LLC and Defendant D T S Enterprise, Inc., have
3 stipulated in writing to protect certain personal and proprietary information from
4 improper disclosure; and
5 WHEREFORE the aforementioned stipulation is memorialized and attached
6 hereto as Exhibit “A” (the “Stipulation”); and
7 GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, the Stipulation is hereby approved, and entered
8 as an Order of the Court.
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10 IT IS SO ORDERED.
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13 DATED:
14 Hon. Kenly Kiya Kato UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15
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27 1 PROOF OF SERVICE
2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 3 I am employed in the County of Los Angeles, State of California. I am over the 4 age of 18 years and not a party to the within action; my business address is 330 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 250, Glendale, California 91203. 5 I served the foregoing document on May 2, 2023, described as: STIPULATED 6 PROTECTIVE ORDER AND PROPOSED ORDER, on the interested parties in this action by placing a true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed envelope addressed as 7 follows:
8 Joseph McGowan Attorneys for Defendants, Ruby Zapien D T S Enterprise, Inc. and 9 Rogers Joseph O’donnell Leslie Dain Sorg 311 California Street, 10th Floor 10 San Francisco, CA 94101
11 Warren Nelson, Esq. Attorneys for Defendant, Fisher & Phillips LLP Quality Development and Construction, 12 2050 Main Street, Suite 1000 Inc. Irvine, CA 92614 13
14 Robert C. Christenson, Esq. Attorneys for Defendant, Fisher & Phillips, LLP Quality Development and Construction, 15 1230 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 3300 Inc. Atlanta, GA 30309 16
17 (BY MAIL): As follows: I am "readily familiar" with the firm's practice of
18 collection and processing correspondence for mailing. Under that practice it would be deposited with U.S. postal service on that same day with postage thereon fully prepaid 19 at Los Angeles, California in the ordinary course of business. I am aware that on
20 motion of the party served, service is presumed invalid if postal cancellation date or postage meter date is more than one day after date of deposit for mailing in affidavit. 21
22 (BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE): I hereby certify that on May 2, 2023, I sent the above document listed by way of e-mail to the following: 23 Joseph McGowan Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants, 24 D T S Enterprise, Inc. and Ruby Zapien E-mail: [email protected] Leslie Dain Sorg 25 Christian J. Gascou Attorney for Defendant and 26 E-mail: [email protected] Cross-Complainant Suretec Insurance Co. 27 James C. Castle E-mail: [email protected] 1 Executed on May 2, 2023, at Glendale, California. 2 (Federal Court) I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United 3 States of America that the foregoing is true and correct and that I am employed 4 in the office of a member of the bar of this court at whose direction the service was made. Vitae ry 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Reference
- Status
- Unknown