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7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 SOUTHERN DIVISION 10 Case No.: 8:24-cv-00389-FWS-JDE 11 EDUARDO GONZALEZ, 12 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC., and OCWEN 15 FINANCIAL CORPORATION 16 Defendants. 17

18 Based on the Stipulation between Plaintiff Eduardo Gonzalez and Defendant 19 Ocwen Financial Corporation, unopposed by Defendant Experian Information 20 Solutions, Inc., the Court finds and orders as follows. 21 1. GENERAL 22 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve 23 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special 24 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 25 prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 26 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. 27 The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 28 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public 1 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled 2 to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further 3 acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order 4 does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79- 5 5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be 6 applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 7 1.2 Good Cause Statement. 8 Good cause exists for entry of this Stipulated Protective Order because this 9 action is likely to involve the exchange of confidential and proprietary information, 10 including information relating to trade secrets, confidential research, marketing, cost, price, technical, or other commercial information, as is contemplated by Federal Rule 11 of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1)(G). The protection of this information is also vital to 12 protecting Defendants’ business competition interests and intellectual property 13 interests. This action will also involve the exchange of personal income, credit and 14 other confidential information of Plaintiff, including his social security number, date 15 of birth, address, and phone numbers. 16 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 17 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately 18 protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the 19 parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for 20 and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and 21 serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this 22 matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as 23 confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good 24 faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there 25 is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 26 2. DEFINITIONS 27 2.1 Action: Eduardo Gonzalez v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., et 28 al.; Case No. 8:24-cv-00389-FWS-JDE 1 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 2 of information or items under this Order. 3 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 4 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection 5 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good 6 Cause Statement. 7 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 8 their support staff). 9 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 10 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 11 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 12 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 13 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 14 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 15 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 16 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 17 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 18 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 19 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 20 counsel. 21 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 22 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 23 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 24 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 25 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that 26 has appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff. 27 2.11 Party: any party to the Action, including officers, directors, employees, 28 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and support staffs). 1 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 2 Discovery Material in this Action. 3 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 4 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 5 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 6 and their employees and subcontractors. 7 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 8 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 9 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 10 from a Producing Party. 11 3. SCOPE The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 12 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 13 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 14 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 15 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 16 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 17 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 18 4. DURATION 19 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced 20 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this 21 protective order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members 22 of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific 23 factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the 24 trial. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu,

, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 25 2006)(distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 26 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 27 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend 28 beyond the commencement of the trial. 1 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 3 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 4 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 5 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 6 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 7 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, 8 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 9 within the ambit of this Order. 10 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 11 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 12 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 13 Party to sanctions. 14 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 15 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 16 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 17 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 18 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 19 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 20 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 21 produced. 22 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 23 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 24 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 25 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend 26 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 27 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 28 1 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 2 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 3 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 4 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 5 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 6 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 7 deemed “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, before 10 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 11 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 12 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 13 markings in the margins). 14 (b) Deposition testimony may be designated as confidential within 15 fourteen (14) days after the deposition transcript becomes available, by notifying the 16 parties and those who were present at the deposition of the designations by circulating 17 a copy of the transcript wherein the designating party identifies line by line the 18 portions of the testimony that it contends should be designated confidential, unless 19 otherwise agreed. 20 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 21 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 22 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 23 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 24 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 25 portion(s). 26 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 27 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 28 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 1 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 2 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 3 Order. 4 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 5 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 6 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 7 Scheduling Order. 8 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 9 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq. Any discovery motion must strictly 10 comply with the procedures set forth in Local Rules 37-1, 37-2, and 37-3. 11 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an 12 improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 13 other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 14 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 15 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled 16 under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 17 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 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 the 22 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 23 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 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 7.2 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 reasonably 7 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 this Action; 10 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 11 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 12 (d) the Court and its personnel; 13 (e) court reporters and their staff; 14 (f) any juror(s) and/or alterative 15 (g) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 16 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 17 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 18 (h) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 19 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 20 (i) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 21 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 22 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 23 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 24 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 25 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed 26 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 27 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 28 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 1 (j) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 2 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 3 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 4 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 5 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 6 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 7 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 8 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 9 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 10 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 11 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 12 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 13 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 14 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 15 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 16 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 17 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 18 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 19 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 20 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 21 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 22 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 23 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 24 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 25 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 26 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 27 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 28 1 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 2 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 3 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 4 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 5 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 6 confidential information, then the Party shall: 7 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 8 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 9 with a Non-Party; 10 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 11 specific description of the information requested; and 12 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 13 Party, if requested. 14 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14 15 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 16 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 17 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 18 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 19 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. 20 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense 21 of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 22 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 23 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 24 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 25 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 26 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 27 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 28 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 1 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 2 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 3 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 4 PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 6 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 7 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 8 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 9 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 10 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 11 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 12 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 13 to the Court. 14 12. MISCELLANEOUS 15 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 16 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 17 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 18 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 19 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 20 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 21 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 22 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 23 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 24 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 25 specific Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file 26 under seal. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the 27 Court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless 28 otherwise instructed by the Court. 113. FINAL DISPOSITION 2 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request 3 || by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to 4 || the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all 5 || Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any 6 || other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the 7 || Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a 8 || written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to 9 || the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where 10 || appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed, and (2) affirms 11 || that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, 12 || summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 13 || Material. Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival 14 || copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal 15 memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney 16 work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 7 Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected

18 Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4

19 (DURATION). 20 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

22 vf 23 || DATED: September 25, 2024 Lh Le. af 24 J D. EARLY 35 ited States Magistrate Judge 26 27 28

1 EXHIBIT A ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 2

3 I, _____________________________ [full name], of _________________ 4 [full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States 6 District Court for the Central District of California on September 25, 2024, in the 7 case of Eduardo Gonzalez v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., et al.; Case No. 8 8:24-cv-00389-FWS-JDE. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms 9 of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to 10 so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. 11 I 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. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 14 for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this 15 Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after 16 termination of this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [full 17 name] of _______________________________________ [full address and 18 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with 19 this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective 20 Order. 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 23 City and State where signed: _________________________________ 24 Printed name: _______________________________ 25 Signature: __________________________________ 26 27 28