Goli Nutrition Inc. v. Sharon Hoffman
Goli Nutrition Inc. v. Sharon Hoffman
Trial Court Opinion
1 EVE H. KARASIK (State Bar No. 155356) JOSEPH M. ROTHBERG (State Bar No. 286363) LEVENE, NEALE, BENDER, YOO & 2 GOLUBCHIK L.L.P. 2818 La Cienega Avenue 3 Los Angeles, CA 90034 Telephone: (310) 229-1234 4 Facsimile: (310) 229-1244 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 5 LATISHA V. THOMPSON 6 JAIMIE L. FITZGERALD MORRISON COHEN LLP 7 909 Third Avenue, 27th Floor New York, NY 10022 8 Telephone: (212) 735-8600 Facsimile: (917) 522-3186 Email: [email protected]; 9 Email: [email protected] (Admitted pro hac vice) 10 Attorneys for the Plaintiff 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 14 GOLI NUTRITION INC., Case No.: 5:23-cv--00514 15 Plaintiff, CORRECTED STIPULATION AND PROPOSED vs. PROTECTIVE ORDER 16 SHARON HOFFMAN, 17 Defendant 18 19 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 20 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or 21 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 22 purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 23 1 24 1 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 2 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 3 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 4 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 5 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT
6 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and other valuable 7 research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for which 8 special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of 9 this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, 10 among other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 11 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial 12 information (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information 13 otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected 14 from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law.
15 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes 16 over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are 17 entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of 18 such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of 19 the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in 20 this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential 21 for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been 22 23 2 24 1 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be 2 part of the public record of this case. 3 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated 5 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil
6 Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied 7 when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong 8 presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil 9 cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing 10 under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,
447 F.3d 1172, 1176(9th Cir. 2006), 11 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,
307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony 12 Electrics, Inc.,
187 F.R.D. 576, 577(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require 13 good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper 14 evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a
15 party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material 16 as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, 17 establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or 18 otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 19 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling 20 reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be 21 narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors 22 Ass’n.,
605 F.3d 665, 677-79(9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or 23 3 24 1 thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate 2 compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing 3 order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must 4 be provided by declaration. 5 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its
6 entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents 7 can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, 8 privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application 9 that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why 10 redaction is not feasible. 11 4. DEFINITIONS 12 4.1 Action: this pending federal lawsuit. 13 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 14 information or items under this Order.
15 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 16 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 17 of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 18 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support 19 staff). 20 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that 21 it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 23 4 24 1 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 2 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 3 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 4 responses to discovery. 5 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to
6 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 7 consultant in this Action. 8 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House 9 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 10 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other legal 11 entity not named as a Party to this action. 12 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 13 Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in this Action on 14 behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that party, and
15 includes support staff. 16 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 17 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 18 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 19 Material in this Action. 20 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 21 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 22 23 5 24 1 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 2 subcontractors. 3 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 4 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 5 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a
6 Producing Party. 7 5. SCOPE 8 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 9 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 10 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 11 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 12 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge and other 13 applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 14 6. DURATION
15 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or 16 maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes 17 public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, 18 unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made 19 to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,
447 F.3d at 1180-81(distinguishing 20 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 21 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this 22 protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 23 6 24 1 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 3 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care 4 to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. 5 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents,
6 items or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 7 documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 8 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 9 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 10 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 11 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and 12 burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 13 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated 14 for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other
15 Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 16 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order, 17 or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that qualifies for 18 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 19 produced. Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 20 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 21 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 22 Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL 23 7 24 1 legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page 2 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 3 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). A Party or Non-Party that makes original 4 documents available for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the 5 inspecting Party has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the
6 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 7 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants 8 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, 9 qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the 10 Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected 11 Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party 12 also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 13 margins). 14 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the
15 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all protected 16 testimony. 17 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 18 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of 19 the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If 20 only a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the 21 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 22 23 8 24 1 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 2 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 3 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 4 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is 5 treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.
6 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 7 8.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 8 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 9 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 10 process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 11 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint 12 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 13 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 14 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass
15 or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party 16 to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality 17 designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to 18 which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 19 challenge. 20 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed 22 or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for 23 9 24 1 prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be 2 disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. 3 When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of 4 section 15 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 5 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and
6 in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 7 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 8 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may 9 disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 10 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 11 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 12 information for this Action; 13 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 14 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
15 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 16 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 17 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); [TO BE NEGOTIATED AND PREPARED BY 18 PARTIES AND ATTACHED TO STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ORDER]; 19 (d) the court and its personnel; 20 (e) court reporters and their staff; 21 22 23 10 24 1 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 2 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 3 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 4 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 5 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
6 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 7 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that 8 the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep 9 any confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 10 Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. 11 Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 12 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 13 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 14 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel,
15 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 16 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 17 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 18 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that 19 Party must: 20 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 21 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 22 23 11 24 1 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 2 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is 3 subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated 4 Protective Order; and 5 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued
6 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party 7 timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or court order shall not 8 produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination 9 by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the 10 Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 11 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should 12 be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 13 directive from another court. 14 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 15 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 16 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non- 17 Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this 18 Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 19 additional protections. 20 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 21 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an 22 23 12 24 1 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the 2 Party shall: 3 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non- Party that 4 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non- 5 Party;
6 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 7 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of 8 the information requested; and 9 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, 10 if requested. 11 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 12 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce 13 the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party 14 timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its
15 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 16 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 17 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 18 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 19 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 20 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 21 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 22 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 23 13 24 1 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 2 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 3 “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 4 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 6 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 7 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 8 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery 9 order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of 10 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 11 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product 12 protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order 13 submitted to the court. 14 14. MISCELLANEOUS 15 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 16 seek its modification by the Court in the future. 17 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective 18 Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing 19 any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. 20 Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the 21 material covered by this Protective Order. 22 23 14 24 1 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected 2 Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed under 3 seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material. If a 4 Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving 5 Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court.
6 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 7 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 days of a 8 written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material 9 to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 10 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format 11 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is 12 returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 13 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that 14 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or
15 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 16 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 17 Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 18 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 19 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 20 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 21 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective 22 Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 23 15 24 1 16. VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, without 3 limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 5 Counsel for Plaintiff:
6 DATED: October 18, 2024 /s/ Latisha V. Thompson
7 EVE H. KARASIK JOSEPH M. ROTHBERG 8 LEVENE, NEALE, BENDER, YOO & GOLUBCHIK L.L.P.
9 LATISHA V. THOMPSON JAIMIE L. FITZGERALD 10 MORRISON COHEN LLP
11 Counsel for Defendant: 12
DATED: October 18, 2024 /s/ Max Folkenflik 13 MAX FOLKENFLIK 14 FOLKENFLIK & McGERITY LLP
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22 23 16 24 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _______________________________________________ (print name), 4 reside at ___________________________________, in the City of ______________, ____________. I am employed by and/or affiliated with 5 ___________________, with a business address of 6 ________________________________________, in the City of ______________, 7 ____________. I have read and understand the Stipulated Protective Order filed in 8 the case of Goli Nutrition Inc. v. Sharon Hoffman., United States District Court Case 9 No. 5:23-cv-00514 (GW)(DTBx). I agree to comply with and be bound by the 10 provisions of the Stipulated Protective Order. I will not divulge Confidential Material (as that term is defined in the Stipulated Protective Order) to persons other 11 than those specifically authorized by the Stipulated Protective Order. I will not copy 12 or use, except solely for the purpose of this litigation, any information protected by 13 the Stipulated Protective Order except as expressly permitted by the Court. 14 Executed at __________________, ___________________ (insert city and 15 state), this _____ day of _______________, 202__. 16 17 ______________________________ 18 Signature 19
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Reference
- Status
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