1 ALEXANDER E. WOLF (SBN 299775) [email protected] 2 JOHN J. NELSON (SBN 317598) 3 [email protected] MILBERG COLEMAN BRYSON PHILLIPS 4 GROSSMAN, PLLC 280 South Beverly Drive, Penthouse 5 Beverly Hills, California 90212 Tel: 872-365-7060 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff 7

8

9

10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12

13 CHRISTINA CHIECHI, individually Case No. 2:24-cv-05241-AB-RAO 14 and on behalf of all similarly situated persons, 15 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 16 Plaintiff, ORDER1

DISCOVERY MATTER 17 v. Hon. André Birotte Jr. 18 EDLOE FINCH LLC d/b/a Albany 19 Park, a Texas limited liability Hon. Rozella A. Oliver

company, 20 Defendant. 21

22 23 24 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 26 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 27 1 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 2 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 3 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 4 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 5 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 6 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 7 under the applicable legal principles. 8 9 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 10 This action is likely to involve customer and pricing lists, marketing and 11 business strategy materials, governance documents, and other valuable research, 12 development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for 13 which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other 14 than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary 15 materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or 16 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other 17 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including 18 information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise 19 generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise 20 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, 21 or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the 22 prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to 23 adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure 24 that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in 25 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the 26 litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is 27 justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be 1 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated 2 without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public 3 manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this 4 case. 5 6 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER SEAL 7 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 8 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 9 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 10 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court 11 to file material under seal. 12 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial 13 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, 14 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and 15 County of Honolulu,

(9th Cir. 2006); Phillips v. Gen. Motors 16 Corp.,

, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002); Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, 17 Inc.,

(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders 18 require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling 19 reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with 20 respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere 21 designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— 22 without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the 23 material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or 24 otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 25 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 26 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the 27 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. 1 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n,

(9th Cir. 2010). For 2 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced 3 under seal in connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking 4 protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal 5 justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting 6 the application to file documents under seal must be provided by declaration. 7 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 8 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. 9 If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting 10 only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document 11 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their 12 entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 13 14 2. DEFINITIONS 15 2.1 Action: the instant action: Chiechi v. Edloe Finch LLC, Case No. 2:24- 16 cv-05241-AB-RAO. 17 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 18 designation of information or items under this Order. 19 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 20 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 21 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 22 the Good Cause Statement. 23 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 24 their support staff). 25 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 26 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 27 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 2 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 3 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or 4 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 5 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 6 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 7 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 8 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 9 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 10 counsel, and includes support staff. 11 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 12 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 13 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 14 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and 15 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 16 that has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 17 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 18 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 19 support staffs). 20 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 21 Discovery Material in this Action. 22 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 23 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 24 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 25 and their employees and subcontractors. 26 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 27 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 2 Material from a Producing Party. 3 4 3. SCOPE 5 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 6 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 7 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 8 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 9 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 10 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 11 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 12 13 4. DURATION 14 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 15 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order that is used or 16 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available 17 to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons 18 supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial 19 judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,

(distinguishing 20 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 21 “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court 22 record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the 23 commencement of the trial. 24 Information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant 25 to this protective order that is not used or introduced as an exhibit at trial shall 26 maintain the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order. 27 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 11 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 12 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 13 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 14 Party to sanctions. 15 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 16 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 17 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 18 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 19 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 20 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 21 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 22 produced. 23 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 24 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 25 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 26 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 27 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 1 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 2 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 3 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 4 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 5 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 6 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 7 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 8 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 9 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 10 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 11 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 12 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 13 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 14 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 15 in the margins). 16 (b) for testimony given in depositions, that the Designating Party identify 17 the Disclosure or Discovery Material by designating specific pages and lines in 18 writing within 30 days of receipt of the final transcript of testimony. 19 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 20 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 21 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 22 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information 23 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 24 protected portion(s). 25 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 26 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 27 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 5 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 7 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 8 Scheduling Order. 9 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 10 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 11 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 12 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 13 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 14 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 15 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 16 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 17 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 18 challenge. 19 20 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 22 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 23 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 24 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 25 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 26 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 27 DISPOSITION). 1 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 2 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 3 authorized under this Order. 4 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 8 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 9 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 12 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (d) the court and its personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff; 18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 19 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 20 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 22 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 24 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 25 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they 26 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 1 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 2 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 3 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 4 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 5 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 6 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 7 8 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 9 IN OTHER LITIGATION 10 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 11 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 12 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 13 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 14 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 15 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 16 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 17 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 18 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 19 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 20 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 21 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 22 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 23 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 24 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 25 permission, or unless otherwise required by law or court order. The Designating 26 Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its 27 confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 1 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 2 directive from another court. 3 4 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 5 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 6 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 7 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 8 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 9 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 10 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 11 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 12 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 13 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 14 confidential information, then the Party shall: 15 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 16 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 17 agreement with a Non-Party; 18 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 19 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 20 specific description of the information requested; and 21 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 22 Non-Party, if requested. 23 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 24 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 25 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 26 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 27 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 1 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 2 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 3 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 4 5 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 6 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 7 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 8 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 9 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 10 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 11 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 12 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 13 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 14 15 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 16 PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 18 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 19 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). 21 The production of privileged or work-product protected documents, 22 electronically stored information (“ESI”) or information, whether inadvertent or 23 otherwise, is not a waiver of the privilege or protection from discovery in this case 24 or in any other federal or state proceeding. This Order shall be interpreted to provide 25 the maximum protection allowed by Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d). Nothing 26 contained herein is intended to limit a party’s right to conduct a review of 27 documents for relevance, responsiveness and/or segregation of privileged and/or 1 protected information before production. 2 3 12. MISCELLANEOUS 4 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 5 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 6 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 7 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 8 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 9 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 10 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 11 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 12 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material 13 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 14 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material 15 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information 16 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 17 18 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 19 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 20 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 21 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 22 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 23 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 24 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 25 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 26 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies 27 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 1 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 2 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 3 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 4 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 5 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 6 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 7 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 8 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 9 Section 4 (DURATION). 10 11 14. ELECTRONIC SERVICE 12 The Parties agree to electronic service of all discovery, documents, and 13 records in this action by e-mail to counsel of record, unless such documents are 14 electronically served via the Court’s ECF system. 15 16 14. VIOLATION 17 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, 18 without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 19 20 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 21 22 DATED: December 6, 2024 23 24 /s/ Alexander E. Wolf . Attorneys for Plaintiff 25

26 27 1 || DATED: December 6, 2024 2 3 || /s/ Michael J. Duvall 4 Attorneys for Defendant

5 6 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 8 || DATED: 12/9/2024 9 . 10 Rarells, O. OC 11 |] United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 16

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California 8 on [date] in the case of Chiechi v. Edloe Finch LLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-05241-AB- 9 RAO (C.D. Cal.). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 10 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so 11 comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I 12 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that 13 is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 14 compliance with the provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 16 Central District of California for enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 17 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 18 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 19 _______________________________________ [print or type 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 sworn and signed: _________________________________ 25 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27 1 Signature: __________________________________ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27