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12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

13 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

14 GABRIELA KOUTANTOS and Case No.: 2:23-cv-08592-HDV (RAOx) BARBARA KAPPOS, 15 [Assigned to the Honorable Hernán D. Vera - Department 5B] 16 Plaintiff,

17 v. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER1

18 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; and DOES 1- 10. Complaint Filed: October 12, 2023 19 Discovery Cut-Off: Not Set Defendants. Motion Cut-Off: Not Set 20 Trial: Not Set 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 1 This Stipulated Protective Order is substantially based on the model protective order 28 provided under Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver’s Procedures. 1 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 4 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 5 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following 6 Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer 7 blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it 8 affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items 9 that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 10 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 1. This action involves the County of Los Angeles and members of the Los 12 Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Plaintiffs intend to seek materials and 13 information that Defendant contends are confidential, such as personnel files of the 14 deputies involved in the incident. Defendant contends that this action is likely to 15 involve confidential, proprietary, official, and/or private law enforcement and police 16 personnel information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use 17 for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Defendant contends 18 that such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other 19 things, confidential proprietary information/or private personnel police information, 20 regarding confidential contained in police personnel files, official law enforcement 21 investigative information, information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or 22 which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal 23 statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. 24 Defendant may seek information such as Plaintiffs’ medical records that 25 Plaintiffs believe are highly sensitive, confidential, and are legally protected from 26 disclosure. See Wooden v. Comprehensive Health Mgmt., No. 20-00053 LEK-WRP, 27

, at *3 (D. Haw. May 28, 2021) (“[M]edical records are 28 confidential, as recognized under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability 1 Act of 1996.”); Pratt v. Gamboa, No. 17-CV-04375-LHK,

90913, at *5 (N.D. Cal. May 22, 2020) (same). Plaintiffs contend that the undue 3 disclosure of such information creates a specific risk of embarrassment, emotional 4 harm, reputational harm, and professional harm. 5 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 6 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect 7 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are 8 permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the 9 conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends 10 of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the 11 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical 12 reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been 13 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should 14 not be part of the public record of this case. 15 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER SEAL 16 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 17 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under 18 seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the 19 standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file 20 material under seal. 21 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial 22 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, 23 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and 24 County of Honolulu,

(9th Cir. 2006); Phillips v. Gen. Motors 25 Corp.,

, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002); Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 26

(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good 27 cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with 28 proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to 1 Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of 2 Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—without the 3 submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought 4 to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable— 5 constitute good cause. 6 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 7 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief 8 sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See 9 Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n,

(9th Cir. 2010). For each item 10 or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal in 11 connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking protection must 12 articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the 13 requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file 14 documents under seal must be provided by declaration. 15 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its 16 entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 17 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only 18 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document shall be 19 filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety should 20 include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 21 22 2. DEFINITIONS 23 2.1 Action: Koutantos v. County of Los Angeles, 2:23-cv-08592-HDV (RAOx) 24 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 25 information or items under this Order. 26 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how 27 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under 28 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause 1 Statement. 2 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their 3 support staff). 4 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 5 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 6 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 7 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 8 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among 9 other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or generated 10 in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 11 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 12 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an 13 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 14 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 15 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 16 counsel. 17 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 18 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 19 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to 20 this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 21 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 22 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 23 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 24 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 25 support staffs). 26 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 27 Discovery Material in this Action. 28 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 1 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 2 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and 3 their employees and subcontractors. 4 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 5 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 6 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 7 from a Producing Party. 8 9 3. SCOPE 10 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 11 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 12 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected 13 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their 14 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 15 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial 16 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 17 18 4. DURATION 19 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 20 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as 21 an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of 22 the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual 23 findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See 24 Kamakana,

(distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing 25 documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits- 26 related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective 27 order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 28 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 this 4 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies 5 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection 6 only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written communications that 7 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items or communications for 8 which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this 9 Order. 10 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that 11 are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose 12 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 13 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 14 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 this 19 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or 20 ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order 21 must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 22 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 23 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 24 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the 25 Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 26 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a 27 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must 28 clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 1 margins). 2 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 3 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 4 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before 5 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 6 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants 7 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions 8 thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified 9 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page 10 that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 11 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., 12 by making appropriate markings in the margins). 13 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the 14 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all 15 protected testimony. 16 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 17 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 18 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 19 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 20 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 21 portion(s). 22 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 23 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the 24 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon 25 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to 26 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 27 28 1 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 2 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 3 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling 4 Order. 5 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 6 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 7 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 8 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., 9 to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 10 Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn 11 the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in 12 question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s 13 designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 14 15 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 16 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 17 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 18 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 19 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 20 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving 21 Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 22 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 23 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 24 authorized under this Order. 25 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 26 ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party 27 may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 28 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 1 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 2 disclose the information for this Action; 3 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 4 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 5 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 6 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 7 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 8 (d) the court and its personnel; 9 (e) court reporters and their staff; 10 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 11 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 12 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 13 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 14 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 15 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 16 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 17 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 18 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 19 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed 20 by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition 21 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately 22 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 23 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 24 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 25 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 2 IN OTHER LITIGATION 3 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that 4 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 5 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 6 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 7 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 8 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 9 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or 10 order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this 11 Stipulated Protective Order; and 12 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 13 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 14 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 15 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 16 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or 17 order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 18 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 19 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 20 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 21 directive from another court. 22 23 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED 24 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 produced 27 by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief 28 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting 1 a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 2 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 3 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 4 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential 5 information, then the Party shall: 6 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 7 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a 8 Non-Party; 9 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 10 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 request. 17 If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce 18 any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality 19 agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court order 20 to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection 21 in this court of its Protected Material. 22 23 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 24 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 25 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 26 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing 27 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve 28 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to 1 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) 2 request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 3 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 4 5 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 6 PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 8 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the 9 obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 10 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 11 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 12 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 13 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 14 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 15 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to 16 the court. 17 18 12. MISCELLANEOUS 19 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 20 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 21 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 22 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 23 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 24 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 25 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 26 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 27 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 28 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 1 Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is 2 denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public 3 record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 4 5 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 6 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 7 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all 8 Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 9 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 10 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 11 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party 12 must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person 13 or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by 14 category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed 15 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 17 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an 18 archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, 19 legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney 20 work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 21 Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected 22 Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 23 / / / 24 / / / 25 / / / 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 | 14. VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, 3 | without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 5 | ITIS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 6 7 | DATED: 2/28/2024 8 9 /s/ Brian Olney 10 | Attorneys for Plaintiffs 11 12 13 | DATED: 2/28/2024 14 15 /s/ Janet Keuper 16 | Attorneys for Defendant 17 18 19 | FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 21 | DATED: 2/28/2024 22 . »| Rapehis, a. 24 | HON. ROZELLA A. OLIVER 25 | United States Magistrate Judge 26 27 28 JOINT RIT E26/M REPORT..~— -|4-

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 that I have read in its 6 entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United 7 States District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the case of 8 Gabriela Koutantos, et al. v County of Los Angeles, et al.; Case No.: 2:23-cv-08592- 9 HDV (RAOx). 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 comply 11 could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly 12 promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to 13 this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with 14 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 Order, 17 even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I hereby 18 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 this 21 action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 22 Date: ______________________________________ 23 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 24 25 Printed name: _______________________________ 26 27 Signature: __________________________________ 28